When the time collapses
by JustSmile x3
Summary: Tsuna and his guardians are sent back to Primo's time one by one. But that's not really an ordinary time travelling. Not when the present is slowly forgetting about their existence. M for violence, blood, etc. in later chapters. ABANDONED.
1. Curious disappearances

Here we go! The first/tenth gen fic! Before we start, I just want to warn that there will be OCs in the story and they are important sorely for the plot. Story is set after Shimon arc without any relation to the Arcobaleno arc.

EDIT (01-05-2013): The story has been edited. Not much has been changed, besides the fact that I worked hard on fixing my grammar. No changes important for the plot yet happened and at this rate, they won't for a while.

Chapter 17 will be posted up in less than 7 days. Hopefully.

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! belongs to Amano Akira and other publishers.

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><p>Tic tock, tic tock.<p>

Tsuna bit his pen in despair and disappointment.

Tic tock, tic tock.

He turned the paper and started reading through the questions he had failed to answer. Out of ten questions, he had answered only one. _Only one_! For god's sake, why were they giving him such hard tests? He started shivering as he thought of his dearest hitman tutor punishing–err, blowing him up, for failing a _simplest_ history test. Oh yeah. Tsuna sure was Dame.

He started hitting his head on the table, not even knowing why. Since when was he so pathetic that he actually had to injure himself? And so he continued hitting his head with his eyes closed, until he felt something cold on his cheek. Was it liquid?

No, that was the wrong question. It surely was liquid.

So the question is; was it blood?

No… it would've been warm then.

Tsuna opened his eyes, figuring that he was lying on his back. His eyes widened at the sight of a tilting glass that was right above his face. Sure, for a moment, he thought he was dreaming. Next thing he knew, his face, hair, pillow and pajama were soaked in water and he was most definitely awake.

"HIIIEEEE!" he jumped in a second, screaming as loudly as he could. The water that was dripping from him was freaking cold! Poor Tsuna jumped out of his bed while cold water slid down his back, sending chills through his spine.

"Sorry!" feminine voice exclaimed, as a girl of blonde hair, immediately flinched back from Tsuna, apologetically bowing with a painful smile on her face, forcing herself not to chuckle at the soaking wet Tsuna.

"Gah! Why did you do that, Lyn?" Tsuna cried, glaring at the girl who only chuckled.

"I had to wake you up," she explained, struggling not to laugh too much. After all, from her point of view, Tsuna was really funny.

"You could've just shaken me or something, not pour icy water!" Tsuna cried, rushing for the bathroom to change. Blonde, Lyn, just shrugged and let him be. That he knew how many times Fuuta and Nana had already tried that, he would've been ashamed.

Too bad, he didn't know, therefore he had to learn the hard way. _Yes,_ Lyn nodded to herself.

Tsuna, quickly changing from his wet pajamas and drying his hair, now noticed that the time was five minutes to eight. He was late _again_! Oh no, Hibari will surely bite him to death now. Tsuna did not want that. No, he didn't. He really didn't. He finished as fast as he possibly could. In the middle of that rush, he ran next to Lyn, who was calmly drinking some tea in the kitchen. He proceeded forward, but then returned.

"Where is Reborn?" he asked, remembering that it was Reborn's turn to wake him up on that morning, thought apparently, the fedora-wearing infant wasn't there. Not that Tsuna wanted him there in the first place.

"No clue," Lyn shrugged. "Haven't seen him today." She sweetly smiled at Tsuna. "You're late, though."

"You're late too!" Tsuna shouted, pointing out that she too wore Nami-middle uniform.

Lyn only raised a brow, before she laughed it off. "I don't have the first period."

Tsuna groaned in jealousy. Not waiting, he rushed out of the house, heading to school. Lyn kept drinking her tea, when something occurred in her mind.

"Wait… I didn't have first class yesterday… meaning… I'm late too! AH!" she jumped, completely abandoning her unfinished tea.

Tsuna, luckily, wasn't late this time. His fast running paid off, though now he had trouble taking his breath, and teacher was pretty much annoyed with Tsuna's constant panting. Gokudera and Yamamoto observed their boss worriedly. What if something was wrong with him? Gokudera didn't want to wait for the class to finish to ask that, but just when he was about to jump and ask, Tsuna calmed down.

Oh, how happy they were when the lesson came to an end.

"Hey, Jyuudaime!" the ever-faithful Storm guardian shouted, immediately showing up in front of Tsuna. "Did you study for the history test?"

Tsuna stared at Gokudera for a minute, before gasping. He remembered his nightmare, failing the history test, and hitting his head and then water… wait… water? He blinked. Oh he totally forgot about the test!

"H-History test!" the brunette exclaimed, panicked. Since when was he foreseeing what was going to happen?

"Yeah, Tsuna!" the ever-cheerful Rain guardian confirmed it with a grin. "I hope I'll get something correct thought."

"I won't get anything correct!" Tsuna whined.

"I'll help you out, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera faithfully shouted. Tsuna groaned inwardly.

"_Hey, Jyuudaime, look over here! These are the answers, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera shouted, showing his paper to Tsuna, while teacher was only huffing at Gokudera, not daring to do anything else._

Or,

_Gokudera started reading his answers out loud for Tsuna to hear it; and the rest of the class as well._

Tsuna gulped, imagining the situations in his mind.

"N-no… it's alright, Gokudera-kun…" he said silently. Though those things weren't exactly what Gokudera would do, now were they?

"Are you sure, Jyuudaime?" Gokudera asked, unsure if his boss really was serious about that. He could pass with one hundred if he allowed Gokudera to help him out.

"H-hai, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna nodded, putting a smile on his face. Gokudera still wasn't convinced, but he nodded anyway.

"Hey guys~" came singing from the doors of the classroom. Gokudera, Yamamoto and Tsuna raised their heads up instantly, just to see Lyn, waving at them with a grin. Tsuna groaned. Was she about to splash him with water again? He sure hoped she wasn't.

"Che… why are you here?" Gokudera hissed at the blonde girl with blue eyes. Her hair was sort of wavy, and she had sweet eyes, but hell, behind that sweet façade, there was an innocent-looking devil!

"Aw, don't be mad, Hayato-san," she replied, "I just came to tell Tsuna that someone is looking for him. No need to be pouty-head." She sweetly pouted at Gokudera.

"L-looking for me?" the brunette blinked, now fully focused on the blonde. Lyn chuckled, giving affirmative nod.

"I think they said that the name was… um… never mind, you know I'm forgetful with names…" She sighed. "Anyway, the one looking for you has red hair and looks like he's been bullied too much," she explained quickly.

"You mean Enma-kun?" Tsuna asked, but all he got was a casual shrug as his response. Tsuna sighed, figuring that it probably was Enma. He got up, wondering what his friend needed, and why asking through _Lyn_ for god's sake? She was as reliable as thin ice!

"Huh? What does Shimon want again?" Gokudera hissed at the blonde, who raised a brow.

"I just said I don't even know who it is!" Lyn pouted. "Can't you be just a bit considerate? After all, I'm already trying to escape from Kyoya-san's wrath… I don't need you angry…"

"Hibari is chasing you again, huh?" Yamamoto laughed when Lyn nodded, plastering a pout to her face.

"I was late again…" She looked him, not approving of his laughter.

"Che… Go back to your class," Gokudera hissed, and the blonde excitedly jumped, as if she took it as an order.

"Ay, ay sir!" she exclaimed, exiting the classroom. Gokudera frowned. What was the external advisor, actually his precious Jyuudaime's father thinking when he sent that girl as their messenger? All she did was cause trouble for Jyuudaime. But one thing's for sure, she knew Japanese better than her brother.

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><p>Tsuna sighed… Next time he should just ask Lyn where to go. Knowing Lyn, it could be on Antarctic too. He continued looking around, wondering why was Enma looking for him, since there was no one else with red hair and looking bullied who would look for Tsuna. Is that right… yeah… it is. Tsuna nodded to himself. But why wasn't Enma at school that day? Tsuna sighed, again, he would have to find him and ask him first. Now he wondered why his father sent Lyn to stay with them in the first place. After all, it's not like she was trying to help. She was actually only slacking off, sleeping the whole day, or at times, running away from Hibari mostly because she kept breaking school rules.<p>

No, Tsuna didn't have time to think about that now. He shook his head quickly, about to return to his classroom. He turned around for one hundred and eighty degrees, just to find that he was no longer at his school. He blinked. What was he looking for in the scary woods? He wasn't there a second ago… and why was it so empty?

* * *

><p>Gokudera was starting to get worried. It's been half of the class since Tsuna left to meet with the boss of the Shimon family, and he hadn't returned yet. It wasn't like his boss! And the only thing that could be wrong about that would most probably be the Lyn-brat giving out wrong information to Jyuudaime, <em>again<em>. Oh he was so going to kill her.

Yamamoto too was slowly becoming worried. Things weren't going the right way. And Tsuna was actually skipping the test, which wasn't like him. Even if he didn't know or didn't study, he still wouldn't just skip it. Anyway, Yamamoto shook his head, putting a smile on his face. The only bad thing that could happen was probably that Tsuna had gotten lost. Nothing to be worried about, since Gokudera would probably force poor Lyn to go and look for him. Yamamoto nodded to himself, continuing to work his test. He marked another answer randomly.

Gokudera was now seriously freaking out. He hissed something, forcefully getting up on his feet and leaving his test with the teacher, before leaving the classroom, ignoring many girls that gasped behind him. He was pissed because Jyuudaime still hadn't come back. He walked down the long hallway, when he ran onto someone.

"Eh? Gokudera-kun?" it was a familiar voice, as the one Gokudera bumped onto stepped back. Gokudera blinked, eyeing the tenth boss of the Shimon family.

"Hey," he hissed, grabbing his collar. "Where is Jyuudaime?" he demanded.

"Eh? What?" Enma squeaked at the silver-haired Storm guardian, panicked. "I-I'm also looking for Tsuna!"

Gokudera stared at Enma, letting him go. "So you don't know where Jyuudaime is?" he asked.

Enma shook his head.

"I asked… that girl from his house, and she said that she'll call him… but Tsuna-kun never showed up…" Enma said. Gokudera took only a millisecond for his mind to process all the things that Enma had just said. He literally stormed down the hallway, aiming for one precise classroom, and when he got there, he literally broke through the doors, in a second finding himself on the other side of the room. With a growl, he grabbed the blonde girl's collar tightly.

"W-What are you doing, Gokudera!" the teacher shouted. Gokudera ignored, growling at Lyn.

"Where is Jyuudaime?" he growled loudly. His face went blank when he noticed the blonde sleeping, then the color drastically changed to red. "YOU!" he exclaimed. Lyn slowly opened up her eyes, blinking.

"Eh? Hayato-san…?" Lyn asked, staring up at the silverette. "Something wrong…?"

Gokudera felt rage building up at the obliviousness of the girl. Whole school building shook up a little when he growled at her again… And for the following five days, Lyn could swear that she'd have big problems with her hearing. Along with the rest of her class, that is.

* * *

><p>Tsuna gasped for air. He didn't know where he was, what was going on, and where were in the world was he going to. Was that Lyn's idea of a joke? Playing with her illusions on him again? But then again, it didn't look like an illusion to Tsuna. For almost half an hour, he'd been walking around, and yes, scenery was changing, which only made sense when you weren't in an illusion, or that's how he was thinking of it. Anyway, he was getting really worried.<p>

He was lost in unfamiliar woods, and that reminded him on the time when he was sent to the future… but he wasn't hit with the bazooka now. Actually it's not that he wasn't hit with the bazooka, more there was no one around to hit him with one. He was in an empty school hallway, which again, didn't make sense.

Tsuna was really really worried about where he was now.

* * *

><p>Gokudera frowned. Hours passed, <em>hours<em>! And there was no sign of his boss anywhere. For a second, he started wondering if Lyn was messing around again, but then his eyes fell on the blonde who was crying like a baby because he shouted at her. Seriously, this was annoying him a lot.

Yamamoto too, wasn't exactly happy about what was going on. He patted Lyn's head, hoping that she won't think that it was her fault, even thought that for the whole last month, she was the only one ever causing trouble. He shook his head.

"Everything's okay, Lyn-chan. Gokudera didn't mean it seriously. It's not your fault that Tsuna is missing," he said with an unsure grin, patting her head. It just had her crying even more.

"B-but I was so mean to him this morning! I even poured water on him!"

Gokudera was now even more pissed off after hearing what she said.

"Y-you did _what_ to Jyuudaime?" he snapped again. Lyn froze.

"Um… I didn't say anything." she averted her eyes up towards the sky and started singing a random song. Gokudera felt like hitting her, but then he remembered that it won't help him find Jyuudaime. He stood up, leaving the dumb idiot with Yamamoto, and went to look for Jyuudaime on his own.

_Sob, sob._ Lyn wiped tears that started rolling down her face again.

"Now I made Hayato-san angry," she sobbed again.

Yamamoto sighed. With her around, he felt like he was the adult and she was a baby. That makes sense? Probably not.

* * *

><p>Gokudera frowned, as he continued walking. He was thinking of all possible locations where Jyuudaime could be at. He already went through the entire school building and he wasn't there, so now what he was heading for was gym.<p>

But gym was easy to go through and after three minutes, Gokudera was certain that his boss wasn't there either. He took out his phone, calling Reborn, but the infant wasn't picking up. It made him angry again. It's all right, he decided, if Reborn-san took Jyuudaime for some training. But they at least could have warned him. After all, he _was_ Jyuudaime's right-hand man.

On his way out of the gym, Gokudera blinked. Since when was that exit leading to woods?

He frowned, continuing his way straight, thinking that the damn brat was taking her revenge at him because of his previous treatment. Oh that girl would suffer once he got to her. But he kept walking, walking and walking for at least another fifteen minutes. It didn't make sense. Scenery was changing but school was no where in sight, nor was Namimori. Gokudera halted. He heard some cuffing in the leaves, and turned around just to face a bush that was slightly moving, next second only moving to reveal person struggling to go through it.

"J-Jyuudaime?" the silverette blinked at his brunette boss.

"G-Gokudera-kun!" exclaimed Tsuna. Oh how happy he felt to run onto someone he knew!

"Jyuudaime, I'm sorry!" Gokudera shouted, kneeling in front of Tsuna, hitting his head on the ground as his custom way of apologizing. "I let that stupid woman trick you so easily!"

"Gokudera-kun, what are you talking about?" Tsuna asked. "What are you even doing here? And stop hitting your head!"

"H-hai, Jyuudaime," Gokudera said, unwillingly stopping. He just stood up, looking around carefully. "Where are we, Jyuudaime?" he asked. Tsuna too, wondered the same.

"I don't know, Gokudera-kun," he replied silently.

* * *

><p>Yamamoto sighed, softly looking at Lyn who kept following his every step. Ever since it turned out Gokudera was nowhere to be found, she didn't want to separate from him, saying that she's worried that he might disappear too. Yamamoto didn't like the sound of it. If he knew something, it would be that Tsuna and Gokudera wouldn't just disappear like that, without any word said. And especially not for so long. Come on, classes were already finished.<p>

Yamamoto felt his sleeve being dragged, and he turned to look at Lyn, sobbing again.

"Lyn-chan is something wrong?" he asked. Lyn only looked up at him with puppy eyes.

"I… I have to go and tell Nana-san that Tsuna will be late…" she muttered. Yamamoto gave her a nod.

"See you tomorrow then," he grinned, just to make it easier for her. Lyn sent him a sad smile.

"See you," she replied, leaving on the other side. Yamamoto softly smiled at the sight of her back. Maybe she caused trouble, but she was nice. She wasn't doing it on purpose.

Lyn on the other hand, now frowned, while she kept walking towards Sawada household. She wondered how to say it to Nana that her son might not come back for dinner. After all the hospitality Sawada family had shown her, now she was going to appreciate it by mentioning her son's disappearance. No, she didn't want that.

"I'm back!" she shouted, with a sigh walking into Sawada household.

"Welcome back, Lyn-chan!" she heard a warm shout coming from the kitchen.

"Um, what are you cooking, Nana-san?" she asked with a smile after entering the kitchen full of fluffy and tasty smells.

"Oh, I'm just making some takoyaki," Nana chuckled. "How was school?"

"It was like usual," Lyn yawned. "By the way, Tsuna won't come for dinner. He went somewhere with Hayato-san," she said as casually as she could. Technically, it was the truth. After all, Tsuna and Gokudera were both missing now.

"Eh?" Nana questionably looked at the blonde. "Who are you talking about, Lyn-chan?" Lyn only stared at Nana for a few seconds, long enough for her brain to catch the gimps of what Nana just said. Next second, her jaw dropped.

"Nana-san, did you drink sake?" she asked when she gathered herself together. Yeah, sake would explain it all.

"Eh?" Nana confusedly looked at Lyn. "Of course not, Lyn-chan, you must've confused me with my husband!" she laughed uncontrollably. Lyn sighed. Yeah, Nana definitely drank sake.

"I'll come down for dinner," Lyn shouted, leaving upstairs quickly, in Tsuna's room actually. There, she ran onto the fedora-wearing baby, sleeping in his little chosen spot.

"You're back, Reborn?" she questionably looked at the little infant. Baby was still asleep. Lyn pouted. "REBORN!" she shouted from the top of her lungs. Finally, I had infant opening his eyes and aiming his Leon-gun at her. Lyn swallowed. "Good morning." She sweetly smiled.

Reborn eyed her skeptically.

"What do you want so badly, that you had to interrupt my sleep?" Reborn questioned her, wondering if he should shoot right away. Lyn gulped.

"Um, about that… do you know where Tsuna and Hayato-san left?" she asked, innocently looking at him. Reborn's face turned serious, as much as it could, in his chubby baby form.

"Who are you talking about?" Reborn asked with his face serious. Lyn raised a brow. He had to be kidding with her.

"You know your favorite bag to torture? Dame Tsuna?" she said, doing some stuff with her hands that was supposed to help Reborn remember. Reborn eyed her. "You really don't remember?" Lyn asked, noticing his reaction. Reborn raised a brow.

"What kind of a dream did you have?" he asked, before returning to sleep. Lyn blinked. Just how could he _not_ remember? Wait, so Reborn really couldn't remember? Lyn blinked again. Finally, her mind understood what it meant. Next second, she fainted.

* * *

><p>Tsuna gasped, taking a cover behind a tree when another sheet of bullets tried to hit him. He was in his Hyper Dying Will mode, hoping that no one would notice him precisely because of the flame on his forehead. And besides, he felt like crying, mostly because now, he and Gokudera were chased by a group of strange people with bad and dangerous guns. Oh and yeah, it was freaking nighttime! And how did it even come to that? Well…<p>

_Tsuna sighed, sitting on the ground, exhausted from the hours that he spent walking around trying to find a way home. He really didn't like that he and Gokudera were in that stupid woods. To heat themselves up, they lit a fire, since after all, November is a cold month, especially there where they were at the moment. And it was barely sunset now, and they still didn't know where they were._

"_What are we going to do, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna silently asked. "Where are we?"_

"_I… I'll get you back, Jyuudaime, I promise!" Gokudera faithfully announced, bringing in a bit of hope in Tsuna's mind. Sure, everything was fine, and they continued talking about what was going on before they had disappeared from Namimori._

_Then suddenly, they heard many footsteps and whisperings. It was strange. They weren't expecting for that and they didn't like it even a bit, especially when they recognized the language that they were speaking was Italian. Tsuna and Gokudera jumped on their feet, hiding the fire with dust, hoping that the ones coming won't notice it. Carefully, they climbed on the tree (Tsuna barely) to get a better sight of the Italians that were approaching._

_They were all strangely dressed, with guns and riffles that looked like they were really, really ancient. It seemed as if they were soldiers on a mission, and Tsuna didn't like it even a little. Especially when a man of black hair, yellow sun flames on his fists, and bandage on nose rushed away from them and a group of five went chasing after him. Too bad, the person rushed off too fast for Gokudera and Tsuna to pay more attention at him, than on his distinctive marks – the Sun flame._

"_Surround the area, I want him alive!" the one who looked like a commander spoke, in Italian. Tsuna mentally punched his own head for not learning Italian earlier. Gokudera on the other hand, understood Italian perfectly, so, seeing how his boss probably wanted to know what the person said, he translated it in Japanese. Tsuna gave a weak nod and gulped. He didn't want to interfere with those guys. It was better if they only stayed up on that tree until the group was gone, but the group apparently made a camp on that same place where Tsuna and Gokudera were, only a short time before._

_They mentally groaned, both, not liking that those strange people were staying there. In the meantime, that group seemed to be making many plans about capturing and destroying someone, or something, and Gokudera kept silently translating it to his boss. Tsuna found himself stunned after hearing what they were planning to do. Murders… destruction…? It made him think that it was another nightmare, and it turned out that it turned right into one, the moment that branch that Tsuna and Gokudera were on, suddenly cracked. They both fell down on their faces, groaning, just in the middle of their camp._

_Leader eyed the two strangely dressed teens._

"_Now how did you get here, brats?" he asked in Italian, with a smirk plastered on his face. _

_Tsuna gulped, looking at the person with his hair tied in a pony-tail. His face that was pretty much invisible to Tsuna a minute earlier, now was shown to be a scary face, full of scars that kept ruining it even more. His dark eyes narrowed at the two teens, one of them obviously being foreigner, while the other one apparently wasn't. Tsuna, remembering that he knew how to apologize in Italian, started doing so, but his accent was really bad, so if anyone could actually understand him, it would be great. But except for Gokudera, no one did._

"_A Japanese?" man blinked, and bunch of his men prepared for fight._

"_I'll protect you, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera shouted, stepping in front of Tsuna, ready to fight. Tsuna trembled. He didn't like that dark-haired person that was standing in front of him. He had a really bad feeling. And why was that person dressed so old-fashionably?_

"_Hm… you don't seem like you're from around here," the commander replied in Italian. "And by your voices and things you said… What are you doing here, Japanese brats?" he continued thinking out loud. If he already established they didn't understand him, why continuing?_

"_Like we'd tell you that," Gokudera hissed in Italian._

"_Oh, so you do speak Italian?" The man sneered. Gokudera took out his dynamites._

"_W-what are you talking about, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna trembled, asking in his typical Japanese._

"_What—is that dynamite?" the man raised a brow, but his look fell on Tsuna then. "Is he scared?" man asked with more gentle face now. Too gentle for Tsuna's likings; especially when Tsuna and Gokudera were in the middle of their camp_

"_Don't worry, Jyuudaime. I won't let them get closer," Gokudera said in Japanese, throwing his dynamites and creating a hard explosion. They didn't waste even a second before they started running away, with Tsuna in the meantime swallowing his pills, entering Hyper Dying Will mode. He knew that fight was inevitable. Gokudera prepared his buckle of Storm, and Tsuna's ring of the Sky was ready too, just in case._

"_Capture them!" they heard a shout, before they lost sight of the dark-haired commander._

So now, that could explain why a bunch of people were chasing after the two. This day really wasn't going well for them.

"Just capture them. I want to know why they are in Vongola territory," the commander of the group said, eyeing the way that Tsuna and Gokudera went at. His men soon caught up to Tsuna and Gokudera and surrounded the two. Man smirked and turned around, to his other target. Certain guy of dark hair was trying his best to, with Sun flames, defeat the ones who were constantly attacking him. But… wasn't he too familiar to Tsuna and Gokudera? Too bad, the two didn't really get a chance to think about it.

"Mateo isn't this… stupid?" female of dark hair tied in pony-tail asked in Italian. "Leave the damn brats. The other one is making enough trouble already."

"Don't worry," Mateo replied. "He'll get tired soon. After all, he was running for five hours straight. I'm surprised that he even held up this long. And I'm more interested in the kids. What are Japanese brats doing here? And one of them resembles him so much…"

Woman lowered her head, not knowing how to answer that. She didn't get to see them.

"Go take him down," Mateo added, gesturing at certain Sun flame user. Anyway, not caring much, he turned around to look at what the two teens were doing. He was caught off-guard when he saw the duo, standing back-to-back, one with red Storm, other with orange Sky flames. Now where did he see that before? One more part of surprise was that every the last one of his men now fell on the ground. Mateo's face turned to a grimace. Just who the hell were those brats?

Tsuna, in Hyper Dying Will mode, eyed the one who was attacking. Mateo smirked at him. Next second, Tsuna shortly nodded, and he and Gokudera went to the whole other side. Mateo scowled and order his men to follow them.

* * *

><p>Lyn groaned. It was freaking midnight and there was no sign of Tsuna. Just a second ago, she woke up on the floor of Tsuna's room, and then she remembered that Reborn said that she must've dreamt Tsuna and Gokudera as some fictional characters or something. Nope, she was sure that it wasn't a dream. After all, her ears were still in pain from Gokudera's shouting and that's what made her sure that they were real. The problem was how to convince Reborn in that!<p>

So, with the only idea that came in her mind, she grabbed her phone, calling for Yamamoto's house. Now she was completely unaware of what hour it was, so she was utterly shocked when no one picked up. Only question in her mind now… Why is Yamamoto missing too?

On the other hand, in Yamamoto house, Yamamoto Tsuyoshi was loudly snoring, which suffocated the sound of the ringing phone, while Yamamoto Takeshi as well was a hard sleeper. No way could a simple phone call wake him up.

"Damn you forgetful-promise-breaking-baseball-nut!" Lyn cried, finishing the call. Now, she was angry. Pissed, she found herself a comfortable spot on Tsuna's bed, and fell asleep in three second. If it was already a dream, then why not having some sleep anyway?


	2. The past

EDIT (01-05-2013): The story has been edited. Not much has been changed, besides the fact that I worked hard on fixing my grammar. No changes important for the plot yet happened and at this rate, they won't for a while.

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR

* * *

><p>Tsuna and Gokudera were satisfied. Not exactly satisfied, but, since it was really hard to explain how they felt after defeating at least dozen of men in ten minutes, yeah, they were satisfied. And if they count it in with beating up the whole unit of at least sixty people in less than one hour, it was a great job – albeit tiring one. And now, it was really late in the night, or how some would say, breaking dawn.<p>

But the fact is that the fight was far from over. They noticed one more fight aside, and yellow, Sun flames that one of the fighters had. Whoever it was, their enemy was the same. Tsuna wasn't sure about whether he should help or not, but then another three men came, attacking him and Gokudera. They had no other choice but to fight back. But why did that Sun flame user look so familiar?

For a difference of Tsuna and Gokudera, the Sun flame user was getting really tired. He had the best stamina in his family, but after running for five hours straight and then spending two more just fighting, even he was exhausted. Another attack from his enemy, now a female, well, it really pushed him down. He couldn't even get up anymore. He realized that he was finished when she pulled the trigger on her riffle, aiming it at his head. On his surprise, the bullet never reached him.

_What?_

He opened his eyes, staring at the back of short-black-haired person, wearing strange clothes and looking not older than an average teenager. But what surprised this certain boxer was that this person had two swords in his hands, both covered in Rain flames. _What the—?_

* * *

><p>Yamamoto yawned. He blinked twice, and then looked around. It was strange, but when he got up from his bed, wanting to drink some water, he suddenly stepped into a dark woods, which made no sense in his mind… unless if he was dreaming again, which was highly probable. His dreams had been weird the whole night, anyway.<p>

He tilted his head, wondering in which direction he should go. First he turned around, just to make sure that his room wasn't behind, and it turned out that it wasn't. After a minute or so thinking, he decided to go straight to where it leads him. He didn't expect to hear sounds of fight after five minutes of walking. He didn't expect that suddenly, in his sight would appear a man, looking a lot like someone that Yamamoto has already seen before. This baseball player blinked, now noticing a riffle pointed in the guy's head.

Yeah, yeah… it was probably just a dream and all, but after all, his nature couldn't just let him observe the person being killed, was it a dream or the real life. So without a second thought, he activated his Rain necklace, cutting the bullet in two with his sword before it got a chance to hit the Sun-flame user.

"What? Who the hell are you?" the woman with her hair tied in a pony-tail, asked, suspiciously looking at Yamamoto. The Rain guardian only grinned at her, wondering what she said. He recognized the language as Italian, but it wasn't really his strong side. Actually, he knew only a few words. That would be all. So no, even in dreams, his Italian wasn't good. Yamamoto was sort of disappointed because of that.

"Sorry na, I don't understand you!" Yamamoto said jovially, with something like a grin on his face. The Sun-flame user became suspicious of this swordsman too, especially after he understood what the teen said. He stared at the teenage blankly.

"W-who are you?" he stuttered, using Japanese. Now that made Yamamoto partly turn and look at, yes, Knuckle, the first generation Sun guardian. Most of the people would either scream or faint after seeing someone who should've died about two hundred years ago, but Yamamoto, he only let a light laugh, because after all, he was _dreaming_.

"I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, don't you remember?" Yamamoto replied, oblivious of the riffle-holding girl who didn't seem happy too happy that she was being ignored. "Nice to see you again!" the black-haired swordsman added, putting down his sword a bit. Knuckle blinked a few times, staring at the teen. He had seen this teen before? No, not that he knew of. He gasped noticing that the woman wasn't planning to let them finish their little chat. Without a word, she aimed her riffle at Yamamoto, shooting, but Yamamoto, having the best reflexes in the tenth generation, dodged it easily.

"Eh? Is that Yamamoto-kun?" Tsuna asked, noticing the swordsman standing a bit further. Gokudera looked at that side as well, dodging a fist coming from one of the three that attacked him and Tsuna.

"I-it is him, Jyuudaime," Gokudera confirmed. "Oi, baseball-freak, what are you doing here?" he shouted. Yamamoto turned his head after hearing a familiar voice and saw Tsuna and Gokudera, standing nearby. He grinned at them. What were they doing in his dream? Oh well, anyway, it's nice to have some company.

"Just wanted to drink some water, Gokudera!" he shouted back. Well it was the truth, now wasn't it?

"Tch! Why the hell coming all the way here, you idiot?" Gokudera shouted back. Yamamoto chuckled. That sure was something that the real Gokudera would shout. He was just about to answer them, when he noticed an attack coming at them, but he was too far to do anything, so he just shouted.

"Look out, Gokudera, Tsuna!"

The two quickly dodged the attack, continuing their fights with their attackers. Yamamoto sighed in relief, glad that his friends were safe. But seriously, why would he ever dream of his friends getting hurt? It really wasn't a nice dream in his opinion. He would've continued thinking about it, that suddenly,

"You, look out!" Knuckle exclaimed, and Yamamoto noticed it too. The girl with the pony tail aimed her shot to kill Yamamoto, but being warned in time, Yamamoto dodged it, letting the bullet hit the tree behind him.

"You have no time to be worried about them," girl said in Italian.

Puzzled, Yamamoto shrugged, having a feeling that she wasn't a very good person when she was trying to shoot him like that. Not that she even looked like she was; sharp face, sharp eyes, saying the words that sounded rude, it all equaled a bad girl image. Anyway, Yamamoto didn't linger around to give the woman a chance to attack him again. He attacked her quickly, cutting her riffle in half. With the back side of his sword, he hit her, creating a thin cut on her stomach, but not as dangerous as it would be when he'd use the blade. It was enough to bring her down.

"Stay there, okay?" he grinned at Knuckle, noticing that Tsuna and Gokudera seemed as if they were short-handed. Knuckle, to bewildered, really didn't bother to answer. And besides, he was too tired to move.

With some help coming from Yamamoto, Tsuna and Gokudera defeated the rest of their attackers pretty quickly, while their commander was out of sight. They were sure that it wasn't over yet, but a break finally did come.

"Oi, baseball-freak!" the Storm guardian shouted, hitting Yamamoto's shoulder. "Why the hell are you here?"

Yamamoto found himself rather confused with that statement, so he only blinked, before letting out a light laugh at Gokudera. "I should be asking you that, Gokudera! What are you doing in my dream?"

Gokudera was taken aback at that. As far as he could remember, that wasn't a dream, especially not _Yamamoto's_.

Tsuna too, was taken aback. He left the Hyper Dying Will mode, now looking at Yamamoto, wondering what reason Yamamoto would ever have to say that it's a dream. After all, he too would love for it to be a dream, but he pinched himself ten times too many for that to be true. And besides, if it were true, his muscles wouldn't be in pain because of the fight he just had.

"Stupid baseball-freak!" the bomber shouted. "This is not a dream, you idiot! Just why are you making Jyuudaime worry again?"

Yamamoto was the one confused now. He looked at Tsuna, whose face did look worried. Hm, he didn't like to worry his friends. And especially not Tsuna, not after everything they've been through.

Knuckle curiously observed the three teens, talking in some sort of odd Japanese, but easily understandable to him. Maybe even easier than the Japanese he was trying so hard to learn. Anyway, the trio looked, in the least, strange; thought he wasn't strong enough to keep thinking about it. He was just glad that he survived the suicide mission that he had offered to take instead of Daemon, who apparently had been interested in doing some other stuff. Knuckle reminded himself not to do that ever again. Daemon was indeed a good hide-and-seek player, especially when it comes to hiding, but not Knuckle. Knuckle was the best at searching; after Alaude, of course.

"Um, anyway, Yamamoto-kun, how did you get here?" Tsuna asked, deciding not to be the cause of their fight again.

Yamamoto took a second, just to remind himself of how it happened before replying Tsuna. "Well, I was in my room and opened the door to go and drink some water, when suddenly; in front of me were these woods." Yamamoto sheepishly grinned.

Tsuna felt like palming his face is a good idea. What other kind of explanation to expect from Yamamoto, since he was in the same situation like Tsuna and Gokudera?

As for Gokudera, he was observing Knuckle rather suspiciously.

"Hey, Jyuudaime… doesn't he look familiar?" he asked, pointing at the boxer lying on the ground, and still looking back at them, trying to hide his shock. Tsuna looked at him as well, gasping the next second.

"Oh, how don't you recognize him, Gokudera?" Yamamoto asked. "That's Knuckle, remember? The first guardian of the Sun," he explained.

Gokudera only let out a weird 'huh', while Tsuna's jaw dropped. Now when Yamamoto said it, it really explained the looks, Sun flames and the entire squad chasing after him. And about how it was possible for Knuckle to be with them, well, it really didn't. Tsuna loudly swallowed, approaching to Knuckle, small mini-step by mini-step. Knuckle found that the boy was being careful maybe a little too much. Apparently, as much as they did know who he was, they also had no idea.

"U-um," Tsuna murmured, wondering how to start a sentence. He made a few more mini-steps while Gokudera and Yamamoto were observing their boss, confused.

"Stay away from him!" sharp voice cut through the air. Thought Tsuna didn't recognize the sentence in Italian, he raised his head up only to face someone he never thought that he'd see again. Black cape, blonde and spiky hair, along with orange flame fiercely burning on his forehead with I-gloves armed and ready for a fight, the person was looking straight at Tsuna with eyes that had orange color. For a second, Tsuna was sure that he was dreaming. The next second, he fainted. Gokudera and Yamamoto were glaring at the person.

"V-Vongola… Primo…" Gokudera stuttered, trying to make a step towards his own boss.

* * *

><p>Cracking sound of the alarm shook the entire house of the Sawada family, continuing like that for the whole time until Reborn got sick of it, and smashed the alarm. He knew that something was wrong. That alarm wasn't supposed to wake him up. He didn't go to school. He eyed the blonde girl that was lying on the bed, still in her school uniform, not even covered. Apparently, the moment she got on the bed, she fell asleep, not moving after that. Reborn's vein popped. Carelessly, he smashed her with his ten-ton Leon hammer, and the girl squeaked in pain.<p>

Reborn victoriously smirked. Now he was out to get his revenge for not sleeping as much as he wanted. But he had to admit it, something felt wrong. Like there was something missing… something that was a part of his life for a while, but now it wasn't there. It rather pissed this infant off since he couldn't remember or get even a slightest idea of what it is.

In the meantime, Lyn rushed out of the room, frightened from the hit she received. Reborn was usually _tolerant_ to her. What made him change just now, Lyn had no idea. She jumped in the bathroom, slamming the doors behind her right before Bianchi managed to get inside. The pink-haired woman wanted to melt the door with her poison cooking, but she knew that if she'd do it, she'd never enter the bathroom again.

Inside, Lyn was staring at the words scribed on her palm. _'Call Takeshi-san to tell him that Tsuna and Hayato-san went missing'_. Lyn raised a brow. Call who to tell him that who and who went missing? She quickly shook her head. Gah… drop that now. She was probably sleepwalking again… or actually sleep-writing. She snorted, washing her face. All she had to do was make sure that she won't be late. Nothing more.

* * *

><p>Ryohei had always been hyperactive, boxer-loving and in the terms of extremeness, he was taking the number one rank. Sure, he loved a lot of other things besides boxing, like his sister, Sasagawa Kyoko, then bickering and fighting with Koyo, matches with Sawada, annoying the Octopus-head and persuading Hibari to do something. But this time, he was even more extreme than usual.<p>

The reason…

Well, his boxing team has just gotten a reward the day earlier, and sure, he'd like to share with with everyone, meaning Sawada, Yamamoto, Octopus-head, Hibari, Master Pao Pao, Reborn, Master Colonello and even Lambo and Pineapple-head _and_ Koyo. So, in order to give them the news, he went running around the town early in the morning, shouting 'extreme' along the way, first heading to Sawada's house.

It was an utter shock for him when Nana told him that she didn't know of any Sawada Tsunayoshi. He extremely tried convincing her that she did, but without any success. She kept claiming that she didn't, and offering him breakfast, which of course he had agreed to eat. After the breakfast, he wanted to look for Yamamoto at the sushi restaurant that his father was holding, but on his surprise, Yamamoto's father said that he doesn't know anyone named Yamamoto Takeshi, and that he's utmost sure that he does not have a son.

Now, Ryohei felt like it was all a bad dream. Just when something good happened, he had no one to share it with. He went to look for Octopus-head's house, but then he remembered that he never even knew where the silver-haired Octopus-head lived, so sort of disappointed and sure that he'll see them at school, Ryohei headed to classes.

"Sasagawa, you're late!" the teacher exclaimed when it turned out that Ryohei was only one tiny minute late. The boxer glanced at the teacher, in not so overly good mood.

"Sorry, sensei," he said shortly, taking his seat. Through the window, he could see that Hibari went to beat up another student who was late and Ryohei sighed. It was extremely strange how he didn't run onto anyone that day, and even Kyoko said that she didn't know Sawada, Yamamoto or Octopus-head, which extremely made no sense. He was starting to think that it was all an evil nightmare that was sent at him by Master Pao Pao to make him stronger.

"I'll win to the extreme!" the boxer exclaimed, forgetting that he was in the middle of the class. Teacher gulped, warning him to sit down. Ryohei did so.

Only Koyo noticed that something was wrong with the Sun guardian. What was he aiming to fight for? Or better, with whom? After all, he didn't hear that Vongola family got in another conflict recently. Most probably it was the boxing competition and in that moment, Koyo suddenly wished to join as well.

"Oi, Sasagawa!" Koyo shouted, not caring that he was in the middle of the lesson. "Being as weak as you are, how do you expect to win the boxing championship?" he asked, rather rudely. Ryohei flamed up immediately, jumping on his feet and gathering his fists.

"You extreme idiot!" the boxer yelled, regardless of the lesson. "The championship was yesterday! We _won_!"

Koyo was taken back by the statement. But it was scheduled to be on precisely that date! "Are _you_ an idiot?" he shouted back at Ryohei. "The championship is today, you stupid head!"

Ryohei was enraged now, again. "How can you say that it is today when it was extremely yesterday?" Ryohei shouted. "It was moved because of the stupid festival, idiot Koyo!" Koyo then remembered the little sign warning, thought usually championships were never moved on a day before, more a day after, but heck… it appears that this year was different. Koyo was now supposed to sit down and shut up, since he was wrong.

Now of course he wouldn't do that.

"Stop calling me an idiot, you freaking idiot!" the blonde snapped.

"I'm calling you an idiot because you are an extreme idiot!" Ryohei shouted back, and the fight continued. The rest of their class started making bets on not who will win, more who will the teacher send to throw them out. Now that was cruel, wasn't it?

Of course, the teacher being the teacher couldn't let it slide. She sent the class president to bring no one else but Hibari to clear the mess up. She didn't need the classroom demolished.

When Hibari arrived, well, the two were already having a fist fight along with the boxing gloves, which no one even had an idea how they got. Hibari raised a brow at the captain of the boxing club and his fellow boxer. During their fist fight, a few school tables were damaged, one window broken, but the most important was that the classroom wasn't demolished. _Yet,_ that is.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hibari asked in cold voice, glaring at the two with his death glare. They both sensed it, so they made a small break in their fight. Teacher regretted calling Hibari. Now even a bigger fight was about to occur. Next time she should just call Suzuki Adelheid, since she is a bit less destructible to her surroundings.

"Oi, Hibari!" Ryohei greeted. He was planning to continue his fight with Koyo, when it crossed his mind that Hibari could maybe know something about the others. "Have you seen Sawada to the extreme?" he demanded.

Hibari was irritated. His brow twitched. His nice nap on the roof was interrupted by no one else but two idiots, but then again, he took time to answer the question. "No," he said, or rather, hissed.

"How did you extremely not?" Ryohei questioned. "Sawada is missing to the extreme!"

"Like I care about that," Hibari answered back. Ryohei was just about to start shouting again, when Hibari let out a yawn and took out his tonfas, saying: "For damaging the school property, I'll just have to bite you two to death."

Koyo's brow twitched in annoyance and slight bits of fear. He did not want to fight Vongola's Cloud guardian, nonetheless. But then again, when the prefect charged at the two, all he could do was fight back. But apparently, Hibari didn't plan a long fight even if Ryohei kept protesting about fighting Hibari at all. The black-haired Cloud guardian sent the two flying out of the classroom, saying that the expenses for the broken glass will be paid by Sasagawa and Koyo, and if needed, he'd make sure for that to happen. Class only watched him leave, awed.

Koyo frowned, pissed because he let Hibari send him flying out of the classroom. For a moment, he could've sworn that Ryohei was sent flying with him as well, and he did see it happen… but on his surprise, Ryohei was nowhere to be seen. _Just what the…?_

In the meantime, Ryohei was expecting to land on the ground from the sudden attack that he didn't get a chance to block. He was left stunned when instead of grass he found himself in… water? Being soaking wet and almost drowning from the hit in the water, Ryohei managed to stand up on his feet, figuring that the water he fell into wasn't exactly deep… moreover, it was reaching his elbows. He blinked, staring in his surroundings.

"Eh? Just… where extremely am I?" he asked, noticing a huge manor rising above everything else, approximately of at least kilometer away, and his school was nowhere in sight.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Lyn, can you take this to the class 2-A? Nezu-sensei requested that to be sent to the history teacher, Maki," the math teacher said, giving papers to the blonde, as her punishment for being late. Lyn groaned and cursed inside, taking the papers anyway. She knew that Kyoko was in 2-A… and someone else too, but she couldn't remember who. Anyway, she knocked on the door of the classroom of class 2-A, and when she was called in, she put the papers on teacher's table.<p>

"Maki-sensei, Hiruno-sensei sent this from Nezu-sensei," she said. Maki-sensei politely nodded and thanked her, continuing on with giving history tests back to his student. Before walking out of the classroom, she stopped for a second to hear how good their grades were.

"Hm, now this is strange…" Maki-sensei sighed. "I have three papers with names I've never seen… Does anyone know who Gokudera Hayato is? He got a one hundred. Is he a transfer student?"

Whole class stopped for a second, and then shook their heads, denying that. Maki-sensei shrugged. "Probably from another class, then. Papers must've mixed up."

Lyn sighed, leaving the classroom. She was sure that she heard the name, Gokudera Hayato before… but… just where was it? Was that the same Hayato who was mentioned on her palm earlier that morning? She eyed her palm again to see if there were any traces of the message left, but only a few trails that were giving no clue. Lyn shrugged. It was probably just another one of her insane dreams.

"Morning, Kyoya-san!" she shouted, passing by the scary prefect who was heading over to the roof. Hibari stopped, glancing at her for a second.

"Why aren't you in class, herbivore?" he hissed. Lyn grinned.

"Hiruno-sensei sent me to drop over some papers to Maki-sensei," she replied innocently. Not caring a single bit anymore, Hibari headed towards the roof, when he suddenly stopped.

"Herbivore, where is the carnivore brat?" he asked, looking at the blonde girl who was dumbfounded with the question. He was just curious of how come that the brat suddenly went missing, so he thought, since she often hung out with them, she'd know something.

"Um…" Lyn put a finger on her chin. "Who do you mean?"

Hibari's brow twitched. That's what he gets for asking the idiot. Not answering her, Hibari continued up to his roof, leaving Lyn to kill her mind about who the carnivore brat was. She scratched the back of her head, headed back to her classroom. Now she was really starting to think that Hibari was a random person.

* * *

><p>It was dark. The place was warm, soft, basically comfortable, making Tsuna to wish to never open his eyes. Well, not really. But he did want to stay there for a while. After all, he just had a scary dream in which his predecessor was standing right in front of him, looking at him as if he was the enemy. But the dream wasn't scary just because of that. Actually, the dream was scary, mostly because even in Tsuna's dreams his predecessor, the first boss of the Vongola family, was supposed to be dead for two hundred years.<p>

Surprising for Tsuna also was that his predecessor looked really young, twenty years old, if not less. Or maybe not. Anyway, now he was scared because he spent his time thinking about it. Just what was the point? He should only wait for the alarm clock to sound and then Reborn to come and kick his head. But even after ten minutes it didn't happen. The whole time Tsuna could hear voices silently talking around him and it made him think that he was still dreaming. In the end, after the voices kept non-stop talking, Tsuna resolved to open his eyes for the sake of saving himself from getting a hammer in his head again.

He opened his eyes, blinded with the not-so-flashy light that was coming from a small window above the bed he was lying on. Brunette blinked, noticing that he had never been to that room before. He looked around, finding that furniture looked old, yet new. On two armchairs a bit further from the bed were sitting the two people that Tsuna knew well. It looked like they didn't notice that Tsuna was awake. Gokudera and Yamamoto were whispering something, probably being the ones who made Tsuna think that he was having a dream. But then again, his opinion didn't change. After all, his two best friends were whispering, _whispering_. Usually, whenever they'd end up together, noise was ensured!

"Gokudera-kun?" the brunette called. "Yamamoto?"

"Oh, Tsuna, you're awake!" Yamamoto cheerfully exclaimed, turning to look at the brunette.

"How are you feeling, Jyuudaime? Are you alright? You're not sick?" Gokudera asked, acting like a worried mother.

Tsuna scratched the back of his head. What just made his guardians change? Well, not really change… but… being silent was a mission impossible when it comes to Gokudera, unless if he's doing it for Tsuna.

"I'm all right, Gokudera-kun," he quickly replied. He looked over the entire room, sure that he couldn't recognize it. "W-where are we?"

"Um, about that, Jyuudaime…" Gokudera started, looking away from his boss. Yamamoto too averted his eyes on the window. Tsuna found that action rather confusing.

"Tell me, Gokudera-kun," he said a bit louder.

"Jyuudaime, it appears to be that we've been sent to the past," Gokudera said, still not looking at Tsuna. The brunette boss took a few seconds for his brain to process what he had just heard. He pinched himself, just to make sure that it wasn't a dream, but then he remembered that he did it so many times already in the woods. Memories slowly connected into one piece, and Tsuna was now more than sure that what Gokudera said was true, and he did not like it even a bit.

"But we have another problem, Jyuudaime," Gokudera pointed out after his boss gave a weak nod.

"What is it, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna gulped.

"Since the first Sun guardian, Knuckle, fainted only a minute after you did… um, Vongola Primo thought that it was us who attacked him," Gokudera explained. "Baseball-freak and I tried explaining it to him, but I don't think he was listening. Anyway, we tried to get away from there, but that made him suspicious even more, so when we were caught he put us all here and locked us up."

"T-that's bad!" Tsuna cried. "I-if they think that it was us who attacked Knuckle-san, we're in serious trouble!"

"I know, Jyuudaime," Gokudera replied, keeping his voice composed. "I'm sorry, Jyuudaime!" he exclaimed the next second, kneeling in front of the bed that Tsuna was sitting on and smashing his head on the ground. "I'm so sorry, Jyuudaime! Please forgive me!" he shouted before he smashed his head again.

"Stop that, Gokudera-kun!" the brunette boss shouted, stopping Gokudera with help of Yamamoto, who had a serious face on. He too wasn't thrilled or happy about being misjudged as the attacker.

"B-but Jyuudaime…" the Storm guardian tried to object while the place on his head that was hitting the ground was red.

"It's not your fault, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna muttered. "Don't do that anymore," he added with a worried face. Gokudera, taking it as an order, of course he wouldn't object. He wasn't happy, but he nodded slightly.

"We need to get out of here," Tsuna then said silently. "We need to run away before they see our Vongola gear… or ask too many questions."

"Well, you see, Tsuna," Yamamoto now spoke. "Gokudera and I were discussing that right before you woke up." He gave cheesy grin. Tsuna gave a short nod. That sort of explained why they were all so silent and secretive the moment he woke up.

"And we tried to break out too, Jyuudaime," Gokudera said, pointing at the part of the wall, about three meters away from the window that was above the bed Tsuna was on, there were traces of burning and slashes. "But the problem is, even when we were trying our best, and even with our Vongola gear, that's all we managed to do. The room is impossible to break out of."

Tsuna gulped. Now that did not sound good.

* * *

><p>Chrome looked around herself. She was sitting in a carriage, having no idea where she was headed or how she even got there. She could've sworn that she feel asleep back at Kyoko's house. How did she get there? And she noticed that it was something about eleven in the morning. Or she was just guessing. Anyway, she was sure that it was still morning.<p>

"Che. You're awake."

She heard a quite annoyed voice, coming from her left, but didn't understand what it said. She only knew Japanese language, and that obviously wasn't Japanese. She turned around to look at the person who just spoke to her.

"Eh, what?" she asked, flinching in the corner of the carriage, recognizing the person that was in the carriage as the first Storm guardian, G, who was smoking a cigar and glaring at her, rather irritated.

"I should've known," G spoke in Japanese. "You looked like a Japanese kid anyway," He snorted. Chrome carefully looked at him, blinking. Just… what…? How did she end up in a carriage with someone who is supposed to be dead? She mentally warned herself not to ask that, though.

"What happened to me?" she asked instead, hiding that she was very nervous actually. Now… how the heck did she run onto someone who is supposed to be dead? Yeah… she wanted to ask that actually. In a bit different form thought, but it really didn't look like an appropriate question at the moment.

"How the hell should I know?" G snapped, taking out his cigar. "You were lying on the ground. We couldn't just leave you. Che. Why the hell am I even talking to you?" He was really annoyed now.

"Um, thank you," Chrome replied, bowing her head a little. She made sure that her hair was covering her Mist earring, just in case. She didn't want to be suspected, and anyway, she had a feeling that these guys (someone had to ride the carriage if Chrome and G were inside?) wouldn't let her off easily if they'd find it. She was lucky that they didn't see it till now.

"Just who the hell are you?" G wryly asked, noticing that Chrome wasn't about to speak at all, more just look around.

"My name is Chrome Dokuro," Chrome replied. "Pleasure to meet you," she added with a weak smile. G nodded. A few minutes of silence and then,

"Just how old are you anyway?" G asked, eyeing her clothes. Wasn't she wearing a bit too skimpy clothes? Was she a prostitute?

"Um, thirteen," Chrome silently replied. G raised a brow at her. Nah, she was too young to be a prostitute. But seriously, Japanese people were always weird in his opinion, and besides, that girl seemed quite innocent no matter how he looked at it. But her clothing was really strange besides being skimpy, and she was apparently Japanese with no knowledge of Italian language and she had a weird eye-patch. Just what was that girl doing in Sicily?


	3. Slowly getting there

EDIT (01-06-2013): Grammar utilized, but probably not perfected.

Hopefully it's better than it used to be!

* * *

><p>Giotto frowned. Ever since he had returned to Vongola mansion after bringing along the Japanese kids that apparently, by what Knuckle had said, saved him, he had a spitting headache that was annoying him to no end. Besides that, he felt like it was a wrong thing to put those kids into one of Alaude's safe rooms. They didn't give out an impression that they'd be willing to escape since they didn't really oppose or make all that much trouble. They just looked intimidated and not dangerous, and most of all, Giotto with his intuition could easily judge whether they had bad intentions, but all he could feel from the three—two, since the third one lost his consciousness—was confusion, which didn't make much sense.<p>

Actually, Giotto himself was confused. What were kids doing in his mansion? And how did they even help Knuckle? Giotto shook his head, wondering about that. Big possibility was that they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, which still didn't explain how they could defeat so many enemies? And why were all three looking a lot like Giotto himself, G, his right hand and Asari? Or maybe he was just seeing things. After all, the fever he had for the last few days still hasn't went down, and leaving the mansion really didn't result nicely, just like Knuckle said it wouldn't. Luckily, a knock on the door stopped him from over-thinking and over-heating his brain.

"Come on in," he said in Italian, hoping that he was loud enough for whoever knocked to hear him. Apparently, it was, when the doors opened and inside came in a guard who was usually stationed at the gates. Giotto's face softened a bit at the sight of that guard.

"Um, Primo…" the guard said, staring in the ground sort of looking embarrassed, but Giotto didn't want to overuse his brain again. It could have a bad effect, as G told him many times. And from the other hand, he wanted to know how his three guests were doing. That's why Angelo came in the first place. Giotto sent him to check on the Japanese trio.

"Oh, Angelo," Giotto called.

"Hello, Primo." Angelo nervously smiled. "H-how are you?" he asked nervously.

"I'm… all right," Giotto unsurely replied, certain that Angelo would give him a long lesson if he mentioned anything about the fever and headache. He didn't need it at the moment.

"Oh, that's great then." Angelo sent a nervous grin, making Giotto suspicious. What was going on?

"Angelo, are the guests alright?" Giotto asked. Angelo, the guard, looked even more embarrassed now while his face got in a soft shade of pink. Giotto didn't fail to notice it. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?" he asked quickly.

"Uh… about the guests—" Angelo started talking while his voice was trembling, which made Giotto worried. What could've gone wrong? Angelo swallowed, continuing, "T-they've escaped…"

It took about a minute for Giotto's brain to process the words, before his brows twitched out of two reasons and first one was, he was worried about three unknown teens running around the mansion since he didn't know whether he could trust them or not, while the other one was that he was fully impressed with how the trio managed to get out of Alaude's safe room. Even when Giotto was locked inside, he failed to break out.

"How did they escape?" Giotto asked, curiosity driving him insane. Part of his mind hoped that he as well could use the trick if Alaude ever locks him inside again. Angelo twitched and his cheeks flushed in red color. It told Giotto that, then again, maybe he won't be able to use their escape route. And it turned out to be more than correct when Angelo finished the story.

"Do you know where they are now?" Giotto asked; now up on his feet, slightly worried about the three. When Angelo shook his head, he got even more worried. Giotto just had to choose _that _day, to give a day off to Asari, Knuckle, Alaude, Daemon and Lampo, while G was actually attending a meeting instead of him. But G was supposed to come back soon (deep inside, Giotto prepared to feel G's wrath when he gets back). Also, something about the earlier mission that Knuckle had taken instead of Daemon was fishy. Giotto only needed for his Sun guardian to wake up first before figuring out what it was. In the meantime, Giotto only hoped that kids won't run onto Daemon or Alaude, since that could be troublesome, and not just for them. It could bring trouble to him as well. Much more trouble than what he'd want to face.

* * *

><p><em>-Few minutes earlier-<em>

Tsuna started panting, gasping for air. He let his stretched arm to drop while the smoke from the X-burner that he had just fired at the wall had slowly started to clear, but then again, the wall only had black burnt circle on it, yet the wall itself wasn't damaged at all. Tsuna sighed, letting the flame on his forehead to die down when he sat on the floor and crossed his legs, still panting.

"Jyuudaime," Gokudera murmured, staring at the wall in shock and then turning to look at his boss. He was, in the least, shocked that even that kind of an attack didn't work, yet it exhausted his boss.

"Tsuna," Yamamoto concernedly looked at his friend. His eyes showed how worried he was, but he was more dumbfounded with why did Tsuna ever try it out. Yamamoto and Gokudera warned him that the wall was practically unbreakable, since even their strongest attacks failed to damage it.

"It's okay, Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto," Tsuna quickly said, rubbing his head nervously. He wanted to get his friends out of there, even thought they warned him that his idea probably won't work. He had to try, but even when he aimed for the window, it was useless. "We need another plan," he muttered sullenly. So the three teens sat in a circle and started making plans how to get out of there.

Actually, Gokudera was planning, while Tsuna and Yamamoto were only listening, trying to understand what the Storm guardian was talking about. But as a matter of fact, Tsuna and Yamamoto weren't exactly good when it came to laws of physics, masses and such. Gokudera _was_ the smartest one there.

"Why don't we just knock out a guard when they come to give us food?" Yamamoto randomly suggested after another one of Gokudera's long explanations. At first, both Tsuna and Gokudera took the plan as really stupid, and of course, Gokudera immediately laughed it off, saying that the idea was too simple to work, offending it since it was Yamamoto who thought of it, and besides, even if they would knock out the guard, they would only end up in halls of Vongola mansion, not outside, which wasn't so good. Oh, and they had no idea when the guards would come!

But then again, just a few seconds after they dropped the idea, the door of the room opened and Angelo slid inside to check on their condition, were they hungry, thirsty, uncomfortable and such. The trio remained silent when Angelo asked them something in Italian, the older guard apparently oblivious of the fact that only Gokudera spoke Italian. Yamamoto turned to Gokudera and Tsuna with a grin, which warned Gokudera to stay alerted.

"It's now or never," he said.

Gokudera wanted to hiss at Yamamoto because of the idea of using Yamamoto's plan was back again, but his eyes froze on Tsuna who was looking in the ground, giving a nod thought he felt really guilty about it. Angelo didn't even know what happened. Gokudera unwillingly, yet willingly deep inside since he too wanted to get out of there, threw his dynamites, almost knocking the old man down, and then Gokudera, Tsuna and Yamamoto used the chance to escape, shutting the door as they left just to make sure that they weren't followed.

In the room, Angelo rubbed his head feeling lucky that he had been able to dodge the main impact. The fact that he's been working in Vongola mansion for a while saved him from bad injuries that Gokudera's dynamites could've caused him. When he found that he was locked inside, he took out a number of keys, now checking each of them in attempt to unlock the doors. After all, only Angelo and Alaude had the keys of that room that could open it from the inside. After getting out, instead of chasing for the kids, he rushed straight to Primo.

In the meantime, the three Japanese teenagers were storming through the long hallways of Vongola mansion for a few minutes, only to find that they got lost.

"It's all your fault, stupid baseball-freak!" Gokudera shouted at Yamamoto, who was sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Sorry," he said with a grin, making it not even sound like a real apology, which made Gokudera burst out again with his insults.

"Please don't fight!" Tsuna begged, and Gokudera stopped.

"Che. If Jyuudaime says so."

Yamamoto only laughed, but deep inside, he wasn't exactly happy because of Gokudera's hostile attitude towards him.

* * *

><p>It was just a normal hectic day or better said, later morning and time for the fourth period to begin. Enma was rushing towards his classroom, needing to talk to someone urgently, thought he couldn't remember who. And besides, he didn't want to be late. He stopped running, wondering about his sudden urge to talk. It was strange. He suddenly felt like he was forgetting something rather important. Something—yet he couldn't get even begin to remember what. It didn't make sense at all. Shitt P said that she also thought so, since that morning she wanted to insanely chase after something, but she couldn't remember what – or who – so Enma was starting to get worried about it.<p>

Just an hour before that, Koyo had said that Ryohei went missing right before his eyes, but then again, Enma wondered who Ryohei even was and it simply didn't make sense. But when he asked Koyo about it just a few minutes ago, Koyo had no idea what he was talking about. Enma felt awfully confused.

"You too, huh?" Reborn asked, suddenly appearing on the fire extinguisher, startling the red-haired boy into a jump. He was looking at Enma curiously, as if he was reading his mind. Enma gulped, calming down a little and remembering that someone had once told him that Reborn could read people's minds… but then again, who?

"What are you talking about?" Enma asked, not so sure if his idea of Reborn reading his mind was true, but wanting to test it out, sure… but not when being all alone with Reborn.

"You feel like you're forgetting something important," Reborn replied seriously. When Enma confirmed it, he turned even more serious. Besides something strange happening, they were both forgetting something _important_!

"The class started, herbivore," cold voice came from the staircase, interjecting with response that Enma was about to give. Reborn's mouth formed something that oddly looked like a smirk, when the prefect Hibari Kyoya turned out to be standing there, not more than three meters away from Reborn and Enma. Anyway, Enma quickly came to the realization that he was late for class… and despite the fact that he was afraid of Hibari he was even more scared of Adelheid, who was probably around too.

"We'll talk latter Reborn!" tenth Shimon boss shouted, dashing towards his classroom quickly, leaving Hibari alone with the infant. It was like they were both smirking at each other, and looked like they were about to fight, when Reborn suddenly waved off at Hibari and left, making the prefect twitch.

"Where are you going, baby?" Hibari asked, before Reborn was completely gone. Reborn lowered his fedora, hiding his face.

"I need to confirm something, Hibari," he shortly said. Hibari didn't like that attitude, but he was too lazy to deal with it. So when the baby continued his own way, Hibari headed up to the roof, to take a nap.

In the meantime, Reborn was trying to think of a theory that fit the events that were going on around him. He felt like something was missing in his life… a toy maybe? Subject of torture? But then again, nothing crossed his mind, until a memory came back to him. Lyn did mention some rather unknown names to Reborn. Possibly the blonde could know something, so Reborn decided to investigate that part first.

"Hey, Lyn!" he shouted on the girl's ear, regardless of the fact that she was in the middle of the lesson. Lyn squeaked, jumping on her feet and gripping her ear with pure frustration shown on her face.

"Why did you do that, Reborn?" she cried. "My ears hurt, dummy baby! They hurt!" she cried, stepping back from the hitman who was obviously not taking 'dummy baby' as a compliment. He took out his Leon-gun, careless that one big part of Lyn's class was observing the scene.

"Who were you talking about last night?" Reborn questioned, deciding to get straight on business and punish her for her bad nickname ideas latter. After all, he wanted to know what he was forgetting.

Lyn, on the other hand, questionably raised a brow. "Huh?"

"I asked you something!" Reborn hissed, getting impatient at her stalling. He needed answers, and he needed them _now_.

"What did you ask?" Lyn repeated, yawning slightly. She was just so sleepy all of a sudden. "Is Kyoya-san angry with me again?" she then questioned. "I mean, I still have my punishment to finish… I hope he won't blame me for something I didn't do."

That was the drop that filled the glass. Reborn mercilessly hit her head.

"Ow!" the girl cried, continuously caressing her head. "All right, all right, no more jokes! Can you repeat the question, but just a bit louder? My ears hurt really much… stupid Hayato-san is too loud," she complained. Reborn eyed her suspiciously.

"Hayato?" he questioned, sure that he had heard it before. "Who is that?" he asked.

Lyn only shrugged, still rubbing her painful ears again, before rubbing her head. She was completely oblivious that Reborn had just dishonored her in front of her whole class.

"No clue." She sighed. "He just came yesterday and—wait!" Lyn stopped in the middle of her sentence when something crossed her mind. "Don't tell me that you don't remember who Hayato-san is!" she shouted at Reborn. Even she for a minute felt like she had no idea, but memories of her earache coming to be were too vivid and painful for her to forget about who had done it and especially about how it had been done.

Reborn curiously kept looking at her, as she came to connect a few dots. "Who is that, baka Lyn?" he asked, curiosity driving him insane. To his surprise, the blonde only squeaked.

"But how can you forget?" she cried, staring at Reborn with her eyes full of tears.

Reborn's brow twitched in annoyance. He didn't like where it was going. Lyn knew something he didn't, and it pissed him off. Lyn's class curiously watched the scene, wondering who the fedora-wearing baby was. Sure, they had seen him going around the school for a few times, but never actually got a glimpse of who he was.

"Who is he?" Reborn asked, sounding dangerous. Lyn blinked and her eyes were still full of tears. Who was Hayato anyway? She could remember that he was a right-hand of Tsuna, the tenth Vongola boss, if she recalled well, and Tsuna was Reborn's student, if she figured it as she should have. So, she sighed, determined to make the infant remember.

"Hayato-san is the right hand man of Tsuna, heir to Vongola and _your_ mocking toy!" she exclaimed. "Get it now?" she asked innocently, wondering what Reborn drank that made him forget. Reborn glared at her, suspicious and not so certain of her words. His last mocking toy was Dino, after all. Still, what she was saying could make some sense, if, actually, Reborn wasn't already sure that she's messing with him.

"The truth," he hissed, aiming his gun at the blonde's head. Lyn squeaked again. She stepped back from Reborn, who now saw her doing some face-puffs and random grimacing, and then he smirked.

"You do know that your illusions don't work on me," he said, looking at Lyn who was actually running out of the classroom as fast as she could.

"I was just buying some time!" she cried. "Wait there until I bring someone to confirm my story!" she quickly added, irritating him again. Like hell if he'd just sit around and wait. Ignorant of the stares that he got from Lyn's class, he ran out, following her.

* * *

><p>"Bianchi, Fuuta, Lambo-kun, I-pin-chan, breakfast is ready!" Nana shouted, calling for the small group to come and take their late breakfast. She smiled, satisfied with the breakfast that she made for them and that her cake, which was supposed to be a desert after breakfast, turned out perfectly tasty. Finally, after a few seconds, she heard murmuring when Bianchi and Fuuta walked into the kitchen taking their seats.<p>

"What's for breakfast, mama?" Fuuta excitedly asked while a wide grin danced in his face. He sure was hungry, especially when he gave the eager face to Nana. Nana only chuckled on his impatience and answered.

"Maa maa, Fuuta." She shook her hands with a warm smile. "Let's wait for Lambo-kun and I-pin-chan to come too." She giggled. Fuuta nodded obediently, wondering if he should go and call them to come, just to hurry them up a little. It was sort of strange that those two were slow.

"Hm… it smells good, whatever it is," Bianchi said with a smile. She loved cooking, and didn't like when other people cooked instead of her or just brining food along (Yamamoto is, was and always will be the best example to that), but Nana was an exception. Bianchi loved Nana's cooking. She loved it a lot.

"Come on, hurry up Lambo-kun!" Fuuta shouted, hoping that Lambo heard it. He knew that the cow-brat was hungry. "Breakfast is waiting!" It was to everyone's surprise that Lambo and I-pin weren't showing up yet.

In the meantime, in Tsuna's room, Lambo and I-pin were playing a video game, and Lambo was obviously losing. He was shouting in protests so loud that even I-pin had to move away from him for a little, but just a little. She heard when Nana called them for breakfast, and decided to tell Lambo too.

"Lambo, breakfast!" she shouted, but the baby of afro-haircut didn't listen to her even a little.

"Lambo-san is going to win this! Lambo-san will own you all! Submit to Lambo-san!" Lambo shouted at the video game, and I-pin, noticing that he paid no attention to her, sweat-dropped, feeling sort of left out. She stopped playing just to observe how Lambo kept yelling at the video game even though he already lost.

"Lambo!" she shouted a few seconds latter, hoping that he would listen to her then. "Lambo mean!" she shouted with a slight pout, but the afro-haired brat didn't linger at all. He was into the finished game way too much. Next thing I-pin knew, the remote control that Lambo was holding dropped on the floor, and Lambo was no where to be seen.

"Lambo?" she concernedly asked, but the five-year old was not in the room anymore. I-pin rushed downstairs, shouting that Lambo went missing and Sawada household was in uproar, since I-pin had trouble in explaining what happened. Nana got really worried.

In the meantime, the cow-brat blinked a few times, confused with the sudden change of space. He looked around, finding that he was in an unknown and rather confusing place, yet obviously royal and prestigious… perfect for Lambo-san. The only problem was… there was no food.

"Lambo-san is hungry!" he cried as loud as he possibly could. When his shouting woke up someone who wasn't willing to wake up, Lambo started sweating all over. The monster was on his way to get him!

* * *

><p>Ryohei curiously stared at the garden in front of him, as after a short time of walking, he reached the huge mansion. His estimation of the distance from the mansion, one kilometer, was <em>wrong<em>. He was walking for at least _five_ kilometers, before reaching the mansion, since it was the only thing that he could see, and it made no sense to the Sun guardian.

He shrugged, thinking how extremely big the manor was, thought he hoped that people inside weren't as big. Anyway, he just hoped that someone there would be able to tell him just where extremely was he. It didn't look like Japan no matter how this boxer thought of it. So, he headed straight to the front door, or so he thought. Actually, in turned out that those were the servant's entrance, and fortunately for Ryohei, he got inside. Bad thing, he was lost in the huge hallways of the place that had him circling around, clueless. He continued going through the hallways until suddenly, he ran onto someone that he had definitely seen before. He grinned, seeing the one who looked like TYL Lambo.

"Oi, Lambo!" he shouted. "What are you doing here? You're also lost to the extreme?" Ryohei asked. The teen turned to him. Ryohei nodded to himself. It was definitely Lambo… thought he never even thought of him dying his hair into green?

Anyway, 'Lambo' turned to him, at the sound of a voice talking in Japanese. For a second, he could've sworn that it was Knuckle, but seeing the white-haired unknown dude, Lampo jumped, shouting a warning that there's intruder in the mansion. Ryohei found no meaning in Italian word for 'spy' since after all, he didn't speak Italian. Later did he figure out when suddenly guards came and surrounded him, with Lampo leading them, thought this fifteen-year old looked frightened, but determined to protect his family… or then again, Ryohei scratched the back of his head… he didn't figure it.

"What are your orders, Lampo-sama?" one of the guards asked, turning to the green-haired royal teen. Lampo thought carefully of what he should do, before answering them.

"Imprison him. If he had made it this far, we have to know how," he muttered in Italian, that the boxer couldn't understand no matter how hard he tried. But then again, Ryohei realized that he wasn't very welcomed when the guards were up to attack him. Not lingering about it at all, he started boxing with them, defeating them easily.

"Wow, they are extremely weak," Ryohei concluded to himself. Lampo stepped away from the boxer, swallowing and sweating hard. Ryohei curiously watched the green-haired teen; still not sure of what was going on. He just saved them both, didn't he?

Lampo, made another step back, just to make sure that the boxer wasn't following. "PRIMO!" he shouted, running away the next second, leaving the dumbfounded Ryohei who again, scratched his head. What was that Lambo up to now?

* * *

><p>Hibari sighed, letting out a yawn. He was so sleepy at that moment. After all, random herbivores that were too weak for him even to use twenty percent of his strength made him really annoyed, and then the baby suddenly left without fighting him. In the end, even Mukuro, even <em>Mukuro<em>, the pineapple freak, was somewhere else, running away.

It pissed off Hibari just thinking about it. So, with no apparent reason, he was taking rest in the reception room, and any fool that dared to interrupt his nap got a flying tonfa in their head. That should teach them not to annoy Hibari all right.

But then again, even Hibari could feel that something was wrong. For the entire day, and even longer, he hadn't seen any of the usual brats that were snooping around. It made him seriously enraged, since apparently, they weren't at school, and skipping school was against the rules, thought deep, deep inside, he maybe did feel a bit left out? Nah, that wasn't Nami-middle's Discipline committee leader.

"Kyo-san, we've got a problem!" Kusakabe said, barging into the reception room without even knocking. It was a short moment before a tonfa merged with his head, partly damaging his usual and yet strange hairstyle, but luckily he wasn't badly injured. Actually, he was barely injured at all. After all, Hibari _was_ giving a warning only.

"What did I say about entering the reception room?" Hibari asked leisurely, yawning for a moment. He took his other tonfa and started polishing it, just to kill the time before he heard what the problem was this time.

"I-I know, Kyo-san," Kusakabe quickly spoke. "There has been an interruption in classroom 1-C," he explained. Hibari, though, looked uninterested, even if he did ask what the cause was.

"Apparently, a few students started fighting about something related to their grades," Kusakabe murmured, but Hibari was now on his way to take care of it. After all, he needed something to do. Dealing with a few brat-herbivores shouldn't be a big deal at all. Sure, in the meantime, he didn't expect to run onto the baby, along with the brat blonde, who both looked like they were in a hurry.

"Running through the hallways is against the rules," Hibari silently said, thinking that there was no need to be louder. The infant smirked and stopped following the blonde who stopped running and stiffened as the chills went down her spine.

"K-K-Kyo-Kyoya-san," she trembled a little with a wide, yet unnatural grin on her face when she slowly turned to face the scary prefect, who looked sort of… well, satisfied with the new rule-breaker. To simply say it, he hates illusionists. The brat was one of them.

"For breaking the rules the best punishment would be," Hibari spoke while taking out his tonfas with a sly smirk on his face, "biting you to death."

"Huh?" Lyn blinked, freezing in place. Next thing she knew, a tonfa was heading for her head. Lyn squeaked, kneeling down in order to dodge it. "H-hold on, Kyoya-san!" she shouted. "W-we… Rebon and I… we have to find –AH-!" she jumped back, right her back to meet with the wall in order to dodge other Hibari's tonfa.

"It's Reborn, not Rebon," Reborn hissed at the blonde, who now jumped off to dodge another attack from Hibari.

"AH! I _know_!" she shouted, giving a short nod of understanding to Reborn. "As I was saying, can you please-" she talked back to Hibari, but her words were stopped again when another tonfa tried reaching for her, but she jumped away, letting it hit the wall. "Can you please confirm that-GAH!" she let out a yelp when a tonfa that was thrown at her hit her stomach and she stumbled down on her butt. "As I was saying," she muttered, seeing that Hibari decided to take a break, "Ow that freaking hurts! Why are you Vongola so freaking violent!" she cried, totally forgetting about what she was talking about before.

Hibari frowned, annoyed from being counted in the Vongola… _again_. "Do not crowd me with those herbivores," he hissed, his eyes narrowing. Lyn gave him a frightened nod of understanding within a second. She stood up to her feet.

"Um, Kyoya-san, we've got a problem, though," she added. Hibari questionably raised a brow. If it was a random problem of the Vongola brats, they shouldn't count him in. He's not interested. Though he did have to admit it, he was sort of grateful for all the fights that he got to fight, and clearly unsatisfied for those which he didn't get. Anyway, in general, it was amusing while it lasted. The past month was just too boring to him.

"And you think I care?" Hibari in the end asked, noticing that the stupid blonde wasn't about to continue. It annoyed him. Deep inside he was a bit, but only one little tiny bit interested.

"I think you don't," Lyn said bitterly. "But as Tsuna's Cloud guardian and Hayato-san's colleague-" she failed in finishing that sentence again, mostly because tonfa missed her head by an inch. "Okay, okay, you're not colleagues!" she cried. "B-but he and Tsuna, they're missing! I've been running all over and couldn't find them! And Ryohei-san and Takeshi-san are also missing!" she added quickly and barely understandable, in fear from the tonfa striking her again.

"So?" Hibari questioned, not exactly interested. Besides dealing off with the brat, he had to take care of the problem in the classroom 1-C, which was going to be annoying. Yet, which one was the worse of the two hells?

"But Reborn doesn't remember!" Lyn cried, pointing the finger at the position where Reborn was. Well, actually, where he used to be, since apparently, Lyn was only pointing at the thin air. The fedora-wearing-infant was long gone.

"The baby's not here," Hibari added, as-a-matter-of-factly. Lyn palmed her forehead. As usual, Reborn wasn't planning on waiting for her, no, no. But little did she know of the smirking baby watching her from another one of his hiding places. Oh yeah, this time, it was just a simple one. The wall!

"Anyway," Lyn quickly changed the subject, deciding to leave before being bitten to death. She softly patted Hibari's arm, which annoyed the prefect and he tried hitting her again. "I'm off now!" she shouted, grabbing Hibari's arm for no longer than five seconds, just enough for her to stop his tonfa before being hit with it. She quickly turned around, but the next thing she knew, she slid down something steep and slippery. She felt like she did grab something before she fell, but whatever it was, it was not easy to hold. Something was cutting through her palm and warm liquid slowly started leaking all the way down her arm.

In the meantime, Hibari was observing what happened. A second ago, they were in the school hallway. Right now, he was standing on some pretty high place, which he a bit latter determined that was a roof, to which he had no idea how he had gotten to. Another annoying fact was that the blonde was suddenly out of his sight and he frowned, wondering if a rest would do well for him? Or was the stupid illusionist playing with him again? Or even worse (in some other way better), was that Mukuro who returned? Since he too, liked playing with his illusions on Hibari, and the prefect hated it with passion.

Anyway, his thinking was interrupted all of a sudden when he heard a yelp, "A little bit of help here, Kyoya-san!" His annoyance grew when he noticed the blonde girl halfway down to the ground, holding only for the gutter that was slicing her skin. Hibari frowned.

"Please?" the blonde begged. Hibari's eyes narrowed, but then again, the stupid brat was Nami-middle student. Falling down would probably kill her. His frown deepened, and he stretched out one hand to help her and get her up. After all, he could judge that whatever it was, it wasn't an illusion.

"Ah, I owe you now," Lyn muttered, panting as she was sitting on the flat part again.

"Yes, you do, herbivore," Hibari replied.

Lyn sweat-dropped. Now she regretted what she said.

In the meantime, back in Nami-middle, Reborn was confusedly staring at the hallway from his hideout. It was strange, simply strange. One second, it looked like Hibari was about to whack Lyn, next she stopped his attack with her own hand and the next thing Reborn knew, they both disappeared in thin air. Reborn could've sworn that he felt like it was an illusion, but then again, it was like they both completely disappeared. Not even the presence of their Dying Will flames remained.

"This is not good," he muttered, his eyes narrowing. He needed to do something and he needed to do it fast. Otherwise, he didn't even want to think of what could happen. Maybe, just maybe, there was a reason he felt that he was forgetting something.

Leon turned into the black permanent marker and Reborn took out a small notebook, quickly scribing in it _'Hibari Kyoya, Azzaro Lyn – disappeared in thin air'_. He felt like he'd need it.

* * *

><p>"GUH!" a person coughed, little blood leaving his mouth in the meantime. "Damn it! Someone else got through as well!" he hissed, wiping the blood away. His servant quickly arrived to his aid, helping the man to stand, before the first stumbled down.<p>

"How do you mean, someone else passed through?" the servant asked, taking his master to take a seat on the armchair, to get some rest and breathe, since the thing his master had just performed was something that drained out a lot of energy from a man, even so powerful one.

"Simple!" the first guy growled. "All guardians of the Vongola were sent back, even the second Mist guardian and with the last bastard—DANG! Someone was probably in physical touch." He gasped, coughing out more blood. "W-we just… need to make sure," he spoke hardly, wiping of the blood again, "for boss's plan to succeed."

"It's alright, my master. I'll finish up the orders this time," the servant muttered. "You just get some rest… before your body gets in even worse condition."

"Y-you're right," the man muttered. "Boss' plan. You must make it work. Otherwise the hell will break loose on us. The boss isn't willing to lose against the Vongola yet once again."


	4. Gathering begins

Ever since he had heard from Giotto personally that he'd get a day off, Daemon was in an especially great mood, finally getting a sweet opportunity to sleep through the entire morning and enjoy it. Sure, he didn't account for a possibility that suddenly there would appear a baby dressed in cow-printed clothes with an afro haircut that simply annoyed the certain Mist guardian. However, the worst of it was the noise.

"Lambo-san is hungry!" Lambo cried as loud as he possibly could. After all, the hunger of Lambo-sama must be taken care of, immediately. Too bad, Lambo did not know that there was someone else in that room, which enraged Daemon, as being the one currently present.

"Oh, is that so?" he sweetly asked, getting up from his beautifully gorgeous nap. Though his voice was sweet, his eyes were filled with hate. Lambo only took a second to recognize the face and start screaming. Daemon rolled his eyes, exasperated but proud of himself. After all, if only one look was enough to frighten the brat that much, then it probably wouldn't be a big deal, though Daemon, deep inside, really was curious to learn how Lambo entered the mansion.

Heck! Daemon didn't care about the mansion! He was worried of how the heck did the brat get into (out of all possible places) _his_ room. He was literally caught off-guard when Lambo, in fear (and bad memories) started throwing grenades at the first generation Mist guardian. Even he, the exquisitely powerful person, barely managed to get out of the grenades' way.

"Nufufufu~ you stupid brat sure have guts to get _this_ done in _my_room," Daemon noted dangerously, though Lambo had enough of it either way. Voice of the Mist guardian probably made it worse.

"You will regret it," Daemon announced smugly. The mist in the room thickened, and the room was filled with the shouts of the cow-brat. Daemon nodded at himself, wondering how to torture the kid. There were many interesting ideas, but then again he did not want to feel Giotto's wrath because of torturing a kid on Vongola property.

Bringing a kid to Giotto's office would probably result far in more interesting development, though then again, when Giotto had a cold, it was never easy to foresee his actions. Daemon eyed the now unconscious Lambo, wondering what knocked him out. Was it just fear of heights that Daemon made him think that he was falling off or was it something else; he did not know. Anyway, he needed to think what to do with the brat and to think of it fast. Before Alaude found out, that is.

That gave the idea to the first Mist guardian. After all, there was one place in the mansion where he could get what he wanted without anyone else knowing about it.

* * *

><p>"Ano, Kyoya-san…" Lyn called, confusedly looking at Hibari, who was resting peacefully, regardless of the fact that he was in a god knows what place and regardless that it was not Nami-middle.<p>

Lyn bit her lip. "Kyoya-san!" she tried again. However, she got no reply. It was a big surprise for her when, after she only poked the prefect on his shoulder, she almost got a tonfa in her stomach. Pay attention to almost.

"Do not _ever_ interrupt my nap, herbivore" Hibari hissed, his eyes still closed, with a peaceful face on. Lyn gulped loudly, shortly nodding. It was strange. When sleeping, Hibari could pass off as an angel, but when awake there was no devil worse than him.

"But Kyoya-san—" Lyn started, pausing to wonder what she wanted at first place. Now when her wound was alright, she was in no trouble. Sure, she could keep it up and take a nap on that awesome roof too, but something felt wrong.

Short narrowing of Hibari's eyes made her shut up. No, objecting to Hibari Kyoya was not allowed. If it were around five minutes or so that they were on the roof in dead silence… it would've been great. But hearing a 'nufufu' coming from somewhere beneath, there was no way Hibari would ignore it.

In a swift movement, he stood up, carefully looking all over the roof to find a way to get down. After all, that laugh pissed him off just a little too much. He needed to find a way down. Hm… maybe just sliding down could do the trick, as long as he didn't slide down too much. But then again being _the_ Hibari Kyoya had its benefits.

Sure, he found a way down by simply sliding, leaving the mouth-wide-opened Lyn behind. Then he could hear the inane laugh again and his mood got even worse. Settling the score with herbivore was now the only thing on Hibari's mind. After all, no one else could have such annoying laugh (excuse the pineapple… he's Hibari's sworn enemy… laugh is just one of the ways he uses to recognize the bastards behind illusions).

"Kyoya-san?" Lyn repeated, rather worried about the prefect's condition. Or that's what her face was saying. When she got no reply, she tilted down a bit to check if he fell on the ground, or not… but of course, Hibari Kyoya could never fall like that and Lyn stiffened. So she would be bitten to death later.

Anyways, Hibari was looking around the room that he had entered into. He wanted to curse since the room was empty. Not one he was searching for. Regardless, he didn't feel like letting one Daemon Spade slip through his fingers. This time, the melon-head will be bitten to death.

Hibari left the room he was in, entering the room next door. When a certain green-haired illusionist raised his head, Hibari smirked. Bingo!

Daemon was rather surprised, seeing a Japanese teen of black hair standing on the doors of his private and _secret_ torturing room. After all, not even Giotto knew about that room – at least not its real purpose. The teen is probably just one of the annoying spies that keep on trying to defeat the Vongola with ugliest possible tricks. But sending a teen only? Their enemies must've grown really desperate.

Daemon mentally smirked to himself, satisfied. Though the killing intent the teen was emitting was reaching an entertaining level in Daemon's opinion.

"So what do we have here? A spy, perhaps?" he questioned slyly in Italian. Hibari's eyes narrowed at the fact that he couldn't understand the language, but it didn't matter that much.

"Hn… This time, I will bite you to death, Daemon Spade," he announced. It was Daemon's turn to feel confused and learned how being bitten to death by Hibari felt.

"So you don't speak Italian?" he asked, switching to Japanese that Giotto had forcefully got them (his guardians) to learn, dismissing the idea of torturing the brat in cow clothes. After all, he'd rather fight the black-haired Japanese. And besides, even if Giotto would pass by, he had an excuse. Giotto never liked spies in the mansion either.

Hibari ignored the question, charging at Daemon straight away. Daemon blocked Hibari's tonfa easily with his scythe. Feeling the raging strength coming from Hibari, Daemon smirked.

"Now this will be interesting," he mumbled to himself, letting his scythe to confront another attack coming from Hibari. Daemon himself wasn't sure about it, but why was the Japanese reminding him so much of Alaude?

And while the two were fighting, Lyn did her best to copy Hibari's movements and get off of the roof, without dying. Sure, she managed to do it, but she was at least ten times slower. So now, when she finally did manage to do it, she was trying to find out where Hibari went. That at least proved to be not so hard since she, herself being a Mist flame user, could feel a strong fight raging in between a Mist flame user and a Cloud one – probably Hibari.

Shrugging and not wanting to get involved, she had to make sure that Hibari didn't find a way out of the strange place without her, and then she could get away from the fight.

Slowly, she entered the first door she ran onto and it was a bingo for her! Unfortunately, prefect was in a middle of a fight with no one else but whom Lyn only saw in mafia history books that her brother had borrowed her once.

"AH! Spade!" she exclaimed with her eyes wide open. At the surprise from Lyn's sudden appearance, fight between Hibari and Daemon halted for a second.

"Another one?" the Mist guardian questioned, now becoming slowly suspicious. Just how did they manage to get in the mansion? Sure, he'll have to ask them before killing them.

"Get out of the way, herbivore," Hibari hissed at the blonde girl, who looked… worried?

"Eh?" Lyn blinked and then her eyes fell on Daemon and then went back at Hibari. Something in her brain twitched when she realized that the fight was actually a life-or-death battle. She gulped, then "D-don't… err… don't ruin his hair, Kyoya-san!" she exclaimed, and then disappeared with all but a respectful bow. Hibari frowned. He'd deal with it later.

"Oh, where do you think you're going?" Daemon asked, moving straight at her exit. Lyn gulped, sensing chills going down her spine from the insanely strong killing intent coming not just from Daemon. She sent a sheepish smile, wondering how to answer that.

"Your fight is with me!" Hibari hissed, striking at Daemon who now blocked it in an inch. Lyn used the chance to run away. Daemon sighed; deciding to finish off the Japanese teen first. Rest could be settled latter.

"No need for such intensity," he taunted. "After all, I'm stronger anyway."

"Don't get all cocky," Hibari retorted, smirking. Bracelet of the Cloud version X shined on his wrist.

* * *

><p>"Sit there and don't move!" G ordered, pointing at a random place on the bed, all while smoking his cigar and eyeing the purple-haired haired girl with an eye-patch.<p>

"H-hai…" Chrome shortly nodded, obeying him with no words of objection for now. After all, the first Storm guardian really had no heart to leave the poor girl out on the street; so instead, he took her to the Vongola mansion, where she was now put in a small room with only a bed and wardrobe. Well, pretty enough, don't you think?

"And don't make noise," G added in warning tune.

"H-hai," Chrome agreed. Not like she'd ever made noise.

"Don't you dare to leave the room," G warned, taking in a huge amount of smoke, and then breathing it out.

"Hai." Chrome nodded.

"And can you stop with the constant hai-hai?" G snapped at her, half-irritated, half-annoyed. Chrome, taken back with this, only gave a short nod.

"Um… hai?" she added finally when he looked at her as if he was expecting her to say something.

"Geez…" G palmed his face, lighting another cigar. Chrome curiously stared up at the Storm guardian, thankful for his help and hospitality. After all, she had no idea how she got there (presumably the past, since it really _looked_ like it was the past), not that she had any clue of how she got into the situation that she was in now.

"Just don't snoop around," G added half-heartedly, closing the doors when he left outside of the room. He checked if the doors were locked. By his free judgment, that girl, Chrome Dokuro, did not look like she could harm him in any way. She was too shy to even say anything at all except when being asked. Besides, she especially didn't look like she'd escape. But anyway, just in case.

He continued towards Giotto's office to give Giotto a peace of his mind. After all, G attending the annoying alliance meetings instead of his boss who stayed behind to slack off… well, he was not going to forgive Giotto for that. Not even if he's in bed with high fever! Well, maybe if it's over forty degrees of Celsius, otherwise… err…

Anyways, the sight in front of him wasn't exactly relaxing him even a slightest bit. _Just what the—?_

In the meantime, back in the room, Chrome started feeling uneasy about something. She had a feeling like there was an illusionist fighting somewhere nearby, but she couldn't tell who, except that it definitely wasn't Mukuro. It was worrying her a bit since she didn't know many illusionists and yet that presence felt familiar.

Not even knowing why, she stood up, disobeying G's orders, and tried opening the door, which to her surprise, opened with a 'click'. Chrome found it suspicious, since she was pretty sure that G did lock the door. Anyway, that was probably the only chance she'd get, now when he wasn't there. Quickly, she slid out of the room, hoping that she wouldn't regret it.

She took the turn to the opposite side from G, just that she wouldn't run onto him. As she continued walking for a few minutes, right when she was about to turn right, she crashed straight at someone.

* * *

><p>"GAH, Primo!" Lampo kept screaming while running through the hallways of the Vongola mansion. He hoped that he'll run onto Giotto soon enough, but apparently, his dear boss was nowhere in sight. He rushed towards Giotto's office, but it was empty. He went to Giotto's room, but it was empty too. He headed towards the secret candy room where Giotto used to hide his candies until he was discovered, but that place was empty too.<p>

Lampo now headed to find anyone else, completely forgetting that the intruder with white hair was now nowhere on his sight, but it didn't even matter. It's not like anyone could walk out of the mansion because of Daemon's illusion. Except for the guardians, that is. But before Lampo left that hallway, he threw one last look at Giotto's candy storage, and put a smirk on his face. No one hides candies from Lampo-sama.

* * *

><p>In the first three minutes after defeating all of the guards that attacked him, Ryohei was heading to find where 'Lambo' left, but then again, the green haired teen was nowhere in sight. Randomly, he started breaking into the various rooms, but most of the rooms were empty, until he broke into something that looked like medical rooms.<p>

"What extremely is this?" he wondered, eyeing the medical room with curiosity. The only person in it was someone actually very familiar too him, but anyway, Ryohei wasn't suspicious even a bit.

"Yo, Knuckle!" he shouted. "What happened to you? You look extremely beaten up!" he pointed out, making the black-haired boxer turn to him.

Knuckle now felt like something was _odd_. Yes, he was awake, since he wasn't exactly badly injured, just exhausted, but he felt as if his brain wasn't working well. First the teen reminding him of Asari saved him from his attackers, then that same teen joined up with another two that looked extremely similar to Giotto and G and now this strange teen? Sure, Knuckle wouldn't even give it a notice, that all of them looked like they knew who Knuckle was.

Now that would be very suspicious.

* * *

><p>"AH! How can anyone live in this maze?" Tsuna cried, realizing that he, Gokudera and Yamamoto took a wrong turn again. Once again, they ended up in who knows what part of the mansion, no matter how hard they were trying to get outside. It simply wasn't their day.<p>

"Haha! I'm starting to wonder about that too, Tsuna!" Yamamoto agreed, grinning, though he also wanted to get out of there. It was just pure luck that they hadn't run onto any guards for the past ten minutes that they've been running around. If they had, it would've been troublesome. But, just for the sake of using a few more words, they didn't.

"Jyuudaime…" Only Gokudera was actually more silent than Tsuna and Yamamoto, which was strange. Gokudera was never ever silent, unless if something was wrong with him. Luckily, Tsuna and Yamamoto both knew it very well.

"What's wrong, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked, but got no answer. He and Yamamoto were silent, willing to wait for Gokudera to start talking. Whatever reason the Storm guardian had to be so unlike himself, it couldn't be just some random stuff.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera exclaimed, snapping out of whatever was occupying his mind. "How about we turn left now?" he suggested with a goofy grin, and Tsuna and Yamamoto didn't like it, but not to make the Storm worried, they agreed, taking the left turn. They continued going, until sight in front of their eyes finally made them feel easier. The door was leading outside, and that was all they were looking for! Happily, they slid out into a pretty nice garden, only to regret it a moment latter.

They were standing face to face with no one else but Asari Ugetsu.

Asari blinked. He was enjoying in the garden and the flowers and practically enjoying his day off, when suddenly three teens appeared right in front of him. He would just shrugged it off, thinking those were just another group of spies, but he could sense that all three in front of him were powerful, thought all had unique face expressions, and two were Japanese. Anyway, the first one, the one with black hair, had a smile plastered on his face which was obviously saying 'long time no see'. The second one, the one with silver hair, had 'not this again' face, while the third one was the one that confused Asari the most. After all, the boy looked so much like his boss that it was indescribable, thought the silver-hair looked a lot like G too. Hm… strange. Asari never felt like there were more things hidden from him, and he unconsciously narrowed his eyes at the teens.

"Ah! This is not good, Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto!" Tsuna said, panic catching up to him and he took a step backwards.

Asari just found it even stranger. Was he looking that scary?

"Eh? But Tsuna, that's Asari-san," Yamamoto dismissed with a laugh.

"You stupid baseball-freak!" the silverette exclaimed. "Don't you get it? We need to leave!" Gokudera hissed at Yamamoto, but the baseball player ignored it. Why? After all, Asari didn't look like he was about to attack them, to accuse them of anything or even fight them.

"And who might you be?" he asked, his eyes switching from one teen to another and back. He reminded himself not to be reckless. Though they were teens, there were no guarantees that they were harmless. Lampo was the best example. And besides, how did they even get into the Vongola mansion?

"I'm Yamamoto Takeshi!" Yamamoto introduced himself. He was just about to add 'it's been a while', but he changed his mind. Asari didn't look like a forgetful person so if he already didn't know who Yamamoto was, then he probably wouldn't know that they've met before.

"And they are?" Asari asked, sort of still being careful, now looking at Gokudera and Tsuna, who each had whole different face expressions. Tsuna uncertainty, while Gokudera reeked of pure annoyance. Yamamoto seemed to be the only one who was actually relaxed.

Tsuna, finding that it would be better to answer the question, said "I-I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi." His voice was shaking a bit, but he was trying to stay calm. Asari blinked at the kid, realizing that the secrets were kept from him. He remembered the name that Giotto kept using each time they were in Japan; Sawada Ieyasu. But this teen was…?

"Tch! Gokudera Hayato," the bomber said shortly, not sure whether Asari was going to fight them or not, but if Jyuudaime introduced himself, Gokudera wouldn't be the best right-hand man if he wouldn't follow.

"I think you already know who I am," Asari said, sort of suspicious still, but when all three gave different sort of confirmation, he just dropped the whole conspiracy thing. "Would you like some tea?" he offered. He'll force out answers from Giotto latter.

Yamamoto, Gokudera and Tsuna kept exchanging looks (well, Gokudera only with Tsuna, but hey!) and then turned back to Asari. Yamamoto grinned, Tsuna put up an unsure and nervous smile, while Gokudera's reaction was something that reminded Asari of G. Annoyed face, yet sort of willing to get some tea.

* * *

><p>"Oya oya, what could this be now?" Mukuro asked, looking around. The last thing he knew was that he was having a sweet nap back in Kokuyo land. So… how he suddenly got onto a tree didn't sound very simple to him. In a swift move, he was on the ground, looking around the woods he was in. It felt like it was a whole other place but Japan and even the trees were telling him that.<p>

Now that was something that Mukuro found suspicious. Being the way he is, there was no possible way he would overlook this as an illusion. Therefore, it was not an illusion. Then again, that someone had simply tried taking him over to the strange place wouldn't have worked since Mukuro would wake up the moment he'd feel a hostile presence near him. So all that's left was the bazooka? But… he felt like he wouldn't be staying there for five minutes only.

He turned out to be right, as he continued going. Fifteen minutes passed, and yet he wasn't returning to Kokuyo land. He noticed that now, he was approaching some place, exquisitely enormous. A small smirk played on his face, recognizing the place.

He headed there anyway, finding it strange to suddenly wake up in nowhere else but Sicily. Sure, if Sawada Tsunayoshi had anything to do with it, he'd make the brat suffer before taking his body. He couldn't let this slide.

As he was coming closer to the enormous mansion, Mukuro felt number of hostile presences getting higher. Apparently, whoever they were, they were planning an invasion on Vongola mansion that Mukuro was heading to, and that made this illusionist smirk in delight. When a group of people suddenly jumped out of the bushes, the pineapple-haired illusionist's smile only got bigger. He could have some fun.

"Take him down," the commander of the group spoke to his men, in Italian. "We don't need Primo to know that we're coming, and this one is sure to point it out." He glared at Mukuro's eyes, one with the color of red, and the other one blue, not realizing that was his worst mistake.

Mukuro questionably looked at his potential attackers with a smirk, though he did recognize one word that was said. _Primo…?_ _Hm… now that would be entertaining. After all, the time-traveling seem to be happening a lot lately,_he thought while his smirk widened.

"Finally, I can get to torture someone with pleasure," he decided, taking out his trident. The hostile unit had no idea what they'd just gotten into. Mukuro, on the other hand, did feel just a bit thankful for getting there. After all, he felt like his torturing will get rusty since Sawada Tsunayoshi, being as naïve as he was, never allowed Mukuro to have any fun. Well now, Mukuro should enjoy himself, right? A few scary illusions won't hurt anyone, ne?

* * *

><p>Giotto rushed out through yet another room, in the meantime warning Alaude <em>not<em> to hurt the intruders, which his Cloud guardian, well, didn't agree to easily, but after some short _talk_ with Giotto, he changed his mind.

Giotto now was warning everyone about the intruders, just so that the trio wouldn't be injured before talking to Giotto. After all, since Alaude was warned, the only critical one now was Daemon and possibly Lampo, but Daemon first.

Lampo would probably come and report the intruders to Giotto immediately.

Giotto was heading towards the garden where he knew that Asari would be. He knew well that Asari wouldn't harm the intruders mostly because they were young, but he was still scared that if the intruders attacked Asari, they could have a really bad time, which didn't sound good to him, not at all. So, when he finally got into the garden, his mouth dropped at the sight.

"Oh, Giotto, there you are," Asari said in Italian, smiling at the blonde boss. Sure, Giotto knew that there was something strange in Asari's smile. Like it was one of those 'you're done for it now' smiles that Asari knew how to give when he was rather… disappointed in something… or possibly pissed because something was hidden from him.

"Asari." Giotto blinked, shocked from the realization once again. He mentally shook his head quickly, reminding himself that he could take care of it latter. The intruders were more important now. "We have a problem," he said in rather rushed voice, using Italian.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure we do," Asari replied, confusing his boss even more.

Giotto questionably kept looking at his Rain guardian, his intuition warning him not to joke around. Asari looked dangerous when smiling like that. Giotto was sort of taken aback by the reply he got, and now was trying to think of what to say. Of course, it had to be smart.

"There are guests in the mansion," he pointed it out right away, deciding that stalling a bit longer could be deadly for him.

"Are you talking about the three _Japanese_boys?" Asari asked, emphasizing the word 'Japanese'. Giotto was taken aback by Asari's words once again. He blinked, rather confused of what his Rain guardian was up to now. Just how did he know?

"H-how do you know?" he repeated his question out loud, feeling that he needed to be careful.

"Why wouldn't you join me for some tea?" Asari offered with sly face, sort of smile-ish. Giotto's brows twitched.

"No, Asari," he refused. "We need to find them before they run onto Daemon," he muttered carefully.

"That should be no big deal," Asari said, still sounding strange. "Come on, Giotto."

Giotto took that as the 'better run' expression. Not even he knew why it looked like Asari was putting up something, which was very unlike his Rain guardian who was usually in a good mood, ready to help out, most of the time smiling and was talkative. _Just who is that in Asari's skin now,_Giotto wondered. He unsurely made one step towards him, and next second started following Asari very slowly towards the tea table on the other side of the garden. Apparently, Asari was waiting for him.

"You know, Giotto, you could've told me the truth," Asari muttered, still in Italian, while the two were slowly coming closer to the tea table that did not look so empty anymore.

"What are you talking about?" Giotto asked, feeling as if Asari wasn't angry or anything. It was just that Asari was disappointed? Yeah. Giotto only had to find out why, now. His guardians were always taking the first place in his priorities.

"I'd understand… or at least I'd try to," Asari continued, not answering Giotto's question. "But then again, I never thought you would do such thing, to be honest." His voice was slowly losing on intensity, as if he was resigning. Giotto stopped walking when they were obviously coming closer to the tea table, too intrigued with Asari's words to pay attention to the trio sitting there.

"Asari, for God's sake explain what you are talking about!" he said, grabbing the shoulder of his best friend, making him turn and look at Giotto. Asari sighed, now face-to-face with Giotto.

"Why didn't you tell me that you and Chiyo had a son?" Asari asked honestly, staring directly in Giotto's eyes.

Blink. Blink again.

Giotto was dumbfounded with the statement. He felt rather surprised, shocked, intrigued and rather confused about what Asari was talking about at the same time. He only managed to let out a weak 'huh'.

"Really, Giotto." Asari shook his head. "That you've told me right away, I would've helped you, you know. I know you probably hid it all because of Alaude, but you could've least let _me_ know. I was never against you and Chiyo anyway you look at it."

Giotto blinked again, trying to connect things over in his head. What his Rain guardian was talking about did not make any sense. So, when his sanity returned to something at least zero point zero one percent normal, he finally said something else but just 'huh'.

"No! What in the world are you talking about, Asari?" he exclaimed at his Rain guardian, his face turning crimson. "I never had anything to do with your cousin! Just where did you get the idea that I even have a son?" he asked, wondering if burying his head in the ground would do any good.

Asari sighed and shook his head. _He's in denial again,_he thought, and then only pointed at the three teens that were sitting a few meters away, not paying much attention to Giotto and Asari, talking among themselves while drinking the tea that Asari had given them.

Giotto turned to look at the direction where Asari pointed, rather confused. What did Asari's insane idea of Giotto having a child have to do with the tree runaways?

"That's the three I've been looking for," he mumbled unconsciously. "I've only ran onto them when I went to help Knuckle last night, honest!" Giotto then looked towards Asari, his face trying to explain that he had no idea who the teens even were.

"Oh?" Asari blinked.

"Really, Asari!" the blonde boss claimed. "Just where did you even get that sort of insane idea?" Giotto asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

"It's not an insane idea, Giotto," Asari calmly replied. "The boy is the spitting image of you … hair and eye colors are exact same like Chiyo's… There's a possibility she didn't even tell you about it, but that doesn't change the fact that you have a son. Even his name matches…" Asari explained.

"Wait… what?" Giotto asked. Now that didn't make sense, especially since Giotto did see all the teens. One only reminded him of G, but that was all.

"Yes, even the name," Asari continued, not seeing why Giotto even asked what he did. "Chiyo only knows you under the identity you use in Japan, Sawada Ieyasu, while we both know that she has a thing for Tokugawa shoguns. Come on, the kid's name is Sawada Tsuna-"

"For the last time, Asari," Giotto said pretty loudly, not allowing him to finish. "I've never been with Chiyo!"

"Then explain him," Asari simply said, gesturing straight at Tsuna. Giotto was just about to retort, when Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera nodded at the same time, abandoning their tea and getting up from the table, approaching Giotto and Asari. Two first generation guardians stopped their little quarrel, looking at the teens.

"Um," the shortest one, brunette started. "Uh, we wanted to apologize for intruding and for running away like that," Tsuna muttered in Japanese. Asari and Giotto exchanged strange looks and then looked back at Tsuna.

Tsuna mentally slapped himself. Yeah, yeah… when they had ran onto Asari first, he told them that it was okay and that they were not considered as intruders in any way. Just that he'd need to talk to Giotto a bit and explain him. Since it looked like the two were having an argument, Tsuna decided to apologize, and his two guardians were there to back him up.

Asari sighed, warmly looking at the three. They must've been through a lot of trouble to get there. On the other hand, Giotto's confusion only continued to grow.

"Uh…" he felt stupid for the question he was about to ask, but he couldn't _not_ ask. Just in case, really, if something _had_ happened but he had no recollection of it. "Who are your parents?"

Tsuna blinked, taken back by the question. Seeing strange faces of Asari and Giotto while they were waiting for his answer really didn't help him out. Just why would his ancestor ask who his parents are?

* * *

><p>"Hm… Which way to go now?" Lyn wondered out loud, feeling lost in the huge hallways of Vongola mansion. She knew that there was a sort of a strange illusion cast on the entire mansion, but she couldn't see through it no matter how hard she tried, so she continued going.<p>

Just when she randomly turned into another corridor, she stopped walking, nervously staring at another face she saw in mafia history book that made her gulp and take a careful step back with a foolish expression on her face.

G raised an eyebrow at the blonde girl in a short skirt, as short as Chrome's was. What was that? Infiltration of scantly dressed girls? What the _heck_?

"Just who the hell are you?" G asked, eyeing Lyn coldly. Lyn gulped, making another step back.

"Um… I'm Lyn?" she replied nervously. G blinked, surprised that his reply came in Italian language. He thought that maybe this one too will speak Japanese, but then again this one didn't even look like a Japanese girl. Foolish G.

"Huh?" His brow twitched and he found it useless to ask for more details about her name. She didn't look like a spy and she looked lost. Perhaps she was a new maid? "Why are you here?" he asked rudely, figuring that the girl was standing three meters from Giotto's office.

"Um, I got lost," Lyn said, scratching the back of her head. G frowned.

"You got lost? To hell, stupid woman! How can you get lost here?" G hissed. "How did you even get here in first place?"

"…"

"Speak it up!" G yelled, already enraged enough. He didn't need a simple brat to make his mood worse. And maybe, just maybe, the girl actually _was _a spy.

"…"

"The hell with this!" the Storm guardian snapped.

Lyn felt chills going down her spine, making another step back, and then another and another. The truth was, besides seeing someone who's supposed to be dead; she was frightened because of the shouting. Her ears were still in pain. Shouting wasn't helping even a bit.

Unconsciously, she made another step back. Next second, someone ran onto her from behind, and in the end, both ended up down on the ground with a loud clash.

"Ow!" Lyn moaned, rubbing her head. She looked to see who ran onto her, just to see… "Chrome-san?" she questioned.

"Lyn-chan?" Chrome blinked, looking at the blonde girl who then gave her a silly grin.

"What are you doing here, Chrome-san?" Lyn asked, switching to Japanese language.

"Uh," Chrome wondered how to start explaining, when she noticed the third person present in that hallway.

G looked rather frustrated, annoyed and pissed, seeing that the two girls apparently knew each other.

"You know each other?" he snorted in Japanese. When two girls gave shaky nods, he raised an eyebrow again.

"Um, Chrome-san, when I say run, you run as fast as you can, okay?" Lyn silently instructed only for Chrome to hear. Chrome, seeing that it was possibly the best way, quickly nodded and hoped that Lyn had a good idea.

"Who the hell are you working for?" G asked, finding that then again, it was possible that the girls were spies. He took out his gun, making the two girls gulp.

"R-ready?" Lyn asked. When Chrome gave another nod, Lyn gulped and then shouted "RUN!"

The girls immediately headed to the opposite side from G, but G followed them, as if he was expecting them to do just that. When he was about to catch up with them, Lyn stopped, creating a random illusion to slow him down, but G saw through it fast. So then she let Chrome to go ahead, and decided to slow down G with a kick, which sure didn't result well. Her kick was blocked with no trouble, and now she was sure that she was done for it.

In her last desperate attempt, Lyn created another illusion and used the second she got to run away. G was just a step or two behind her when he suddenly decided to stop, confusing the blonde. His eyes narrowed in annoyance and irritation, and Lyn soon found out why.

"Oh crap," she silently groaned, noticing the handcuff closing around her wrist. Now she was done for it. She knew it.


	5. So the truth is out

G's eyes narrowed in suspicion and irritation and he stopped chasing after Lyn, who, noticing that stopped as well. Soon she learned why.

"Oh crap," she groaned, noticing the handcuff on her wrist. She was now fully aware that she was done for it, especially when she looked up to see a pale face, looking rather annoyed.

Chrome, filled with worry of something happening to Lyn, stopped running away and turned back to Lyn who was standing in the middle of the hallway, frozen. Her wrist was chained by no one else but a blonde man that Chrome recognized as Alaude, the first Cloud guardian. Chrome wanted to take out her trident and fight if she had to, but she instantly changed her mind after seeing that her own wrist had been caught by a handcuff as well. When or how, she did not know.

"You'll have to come with me now," Alaude informed, dragging his handcuffs. That was supposed to be a sign that girls could understand, which of course, didn't happen. Chrome was just silently gulping at the pure annoyance that Alaude was giving out, while Lyn was too scared to even move. Those reactions were obviously annoying Alaude even more.

"Tch. You always have to show-off," G huffed, not liking Alaude's entrance even a tiny bit.

"It is not my fault that you're not following the orders," Alaude answered back coolly, dragging his handcuffs again. Girls did get the message this time, making only a small step.

"_What_ orders?" G asked, not even being interested in the oh-so-important-orders. Generally, he was more irritated by the fact that Alaude had stolen his thunder _again_.

"The three intruders are to be caught and brought to the conference room for interrogation unharmed," Alaude recited nonchalantly. "I leave the third one to you, G," he added with a sneer. In response to that, G scowled. It was Chrome who broke the sudden silence.

"Third one?" she asked, confused. If Lyn and her were the first two intruders, then who could be the third?

"Oh no, Kyoya-san," Lyn muttered under her breath, but both, the Storm and the Cloud guardian heard her.

"Where is the third one?" G growled at Lyn, who only shook her head in response as if she didn't want to say it. "I asked you something," G added in even more fearsome voice. Lyn shook her head in refusal again, but the handcuff tightening around her wrist made her speak.

"He's kicking off Daemon Spade's butt upstairs!" she yelled arrogantly at the two guardians. There was a moment of absolute silence, and then both G and Alaude reacted.

"Che. I hope the illusionist bastard gets his butt blasted off pretty bad," G snorted, pushing his hands in his pockets. "I'm off to find Primo," he then randomly said to Alaude and took his leave to the opposite side. Imprisoned Chrome and Lyn were pretty surprised with the reaction from the first Storm guardian.

"I might as well agree with him," Alaude silently added, dragging off Chrome and Lyn with him along the way. Lyn could find consolation in only one thing. Orders were to bring them _unharmed_. Rest assured.

* * *

><p>"Uh…" Giotto felt stupid, about asking the thing that he was about to ask, but then again, it was better off that way. "Who are your parents?"<p>

Tsuna blinked, rather confused with the question. No, wait. Everyone were confused, not just Tsuna. Yamamoto and Gokudera and even Asari himself.

"Um," Tsuna was about to say something, but then he gave up.

"Jyuudaime, are you really going to answer the stupid question?" Gokudera asked silently, making Tsuna to turn and look him in confusion, just to see that Gokudera looked confused, but wary nonetheless.

"That question is not stupid!" Giotto and Asari shouted at the same time.

Tsuna squeaked in surprise. "S-Sawada Iemitsu and Sawada Nana!" he quickly said, not wanting to get his ancestor angry. There were a few moments of silence between the five, Yamamoto being the one with the most cheerful attitude, but since others were too tensed, he wasn't exactly going to joke around too much.

Asari was the one to break the silence with a "What?"

"I thought that name was unique!" Giotto pouted the moment his composure came back. "Anyways, you see now, Asari? I wasn't lying to you." He let out a sigh in the end.

"I'm still not convinced," Asari murmured, suspiciously looking at Tsuna.

Tsuna blinked, not liking that look thought it was sort of not that scary. He wanted to get away from there before causing anymore disruption and fighting between Primo and Asari. He wouldn't be able to cope with it. Luckily, Yamamoto was there to save the day, since out of them all, he somehow managed to guess what the whole thing was about. Well, not literally guess, but since Giotto was acting jealous of his name, it wasn't that hard, right?

"Uh, about that," he started. "I think you got it all wrong," he said and grinned at the two first generation guardians.

"How do you mean, we got it all wrong?" Giotto asked, observing the boy, but his intuition was telling him that the boy was apparently right about whatever he wanted to say.

"Shut up, you stupid baseball-freak!" Gokudera interjected. "You're not planning to tell them are you?" he shouted, ready to hit the baseball player if needed.

"Yeah, Yamamoto," Tsuna silently added. "I don't think it's a good idea." He scratched the back of his head.

"Why not, Tsuna?" Yamamoto grinned at the two. "They are going to find out anyway, so why wait?" he asked.

"Jyuudaime said something, baseball-freak!" Gokudera shouted, hardly fighting the urge to hit Yamamoto.

"N-no, Gokudera-kun, calm down!" Tsuna shouted.

In the meantime, Giotto and Asari only stood aside, watching the scene that was happening right before their eyes.

"Aren't they reminding you of someone?" Asari bluntly asked, staring at the scenery in which Gokudera was still yelling at Yamamoto, while Tsuna and Yamamoto were trying to get the silverette to calm down.

"Y-yeah," Giotto confirmed nervously. "Anyways, I'm more interested to find out what he wanted to tell us," he murmured.

"Me too," Asari silently nodded. As the situation kept continuously repeating; Gokudera shouting at Yamamoto, Tsuna telling Gokudera to calm down and Yamamoto just acting as if nothing was happening, the two first generation guardians started talking again. This time, it was Giotto's time to start talking.

"Hey Asari," he said. When his Rain guardian looked at him, he continued, "There's one more major gap in your idea that this boy is my son…" Giotto sighed, eyeing Tsuna again. Asari blinked, confused.

"How do you mean, one more major gap?" he asked, rather surprised with the statement.

"Well, how old do you think they are?" Giotto asked. Asari looked at Giotto, and then shot glance at the three teens. After a bit of thinking he answered.

"Fifteen at most. Thought the one with the silver hair, Hayato, could pass as sixteen," Asari said. Giotto nodded.

"Exactly," he confirmed. "Now remind me how old I am."

"Eh? Giotto, did you forget your age?" Asari looked at his friend and boss confusedly.

"Just say it, Asari," Giotto said with a poker-face. Asari, finding that he probably should say it, in the end did say it.

"Like me, twenty seven. Why are you asking me this?"

"Exactly," Giotto nodded affirmatively. "See now?" he curiously glanced over at Asari, who blinked.

"Do I see what now?" Asari asked. A second latter, understanding and comprehension hit him, and he only let out a weak "Oh…" as a sign of confirmation before Giotto added anything else.

"So back to the matter at hand now," Giotto said firmly. "What did you want to tell us?" he asked, eyeing the teens calmly. Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto stopped in their tracks, not saying a word more. They totally forgot that Primo was next to them. In the end, Yamamoto let out a weak chuckle, before saying it.

"Well, no matter how unbelievable it sounds," he started with a _gentle_ introduction, "We're actually from the future," he explained. "See now?"

Giotto and Asari were looking at him, stunned. Inventing stories was definitely fun, so long as it doesn't get out of hand, or so Giotto thought. But the worst of all was that he was just _too sure_ that the boy was telling the truth. But that was impossible, wasn't it?

"H-how far in the future?" he managed to stammer, not paying attention o strange looks his Rain guardian was sending. Yamamoto turned to Tsuna, who only gave him a shaky nod, as if he was saying 'it's all right, tell them,' and so he did.

"About two hundred years," he said it cheerfully. The fact that Giotto and Asari weren't reacting should have been telling enough about how much they actually trusted the statement. So when Giotto sneezed, mostly because he had a cold, Yamamoto's grin went even wider.

"See, true enough!*"

* * *

><p>"Oya. Now this wasn't as fun as I thought it would be," Mukuro said, swinging his trident for the last time, and the last person that was trying to kill him fell on the ground. He sneered, letting out his legendary 'Kufufufu' laugh and straightened his body that was up until then in a sort of hunched. His opponents, the ones that were sent to kill him, were now having really sweet illusions playing in their heads, and Mukuro just enjoyed seeing painful expressions on their faces as they couldn't even yelp for help.<p>

He took a look around the place, realizing that it had taken him a while to bring down about fifty people who were aiming to apparently attack the Vongola mansion, which seemed to be pretty nearby. Mukuro, finding that amusing, decided to go and give a small visit to the infamous mansion himself. It's not like he had anything better to do before he finds a way to go back to Kokuyo land, seeing as the mansion probably held all the answers he needed. So why not giving it a shot?

But then he partly changed his mind. After all, setting up something to those in Vongola mansion sounded much better, didn't it? Well, it did to Mukuro. After all, his flawlessly cruel mind, created only for torturing weaklings and annoying ones had gotten one amazing idea, oh yes. On whom else he should try it out, but the Vongola family?

* * *

><p>"AH! Let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go!" Lyn shouted from the top of her lungs, but then she spotted Chrome, and the structure of her sentence changed a bit. "Let us go, let us go, let us go, let us go, let us go, and let us go, LET US GO! LET-AGH-!" she screamed, stopping her breath when a large handcuff found its place around her neck. It was just tight enough to make her shut up, but let her breathe.<p>

"I don't think that was a good idea, Lyn-chan," Chrome pointed out, lowering her head. As from the moment Alaude had dropped them in the conference room, Lyn apparently had a big problem dealing with it, and she kept loudly and openly complaining about it, regardless of the fact that Alaude warned her to be quiet for a few times already. It looked like the blonde man had lost his composure.

"Let us go," Lyn let out one final complaint, hoping that Alaude wouldn't strangle her to death. She was already feeling dizzy.

"Orders are orders. For you it would better be to shut up," Alaude simply said. Lyn would gulp that she could, but since she couldn't, her only choice was to bite her tongue and hope that someone will come to rescue, and surely, someone did come, but not exactly to her and Chrome's rescue.

"PRIMO!" the green-haired teenager, broke into the conference room. He soundly gulped, seeing that the person inside wasn't Giotto, more Alaude. "Ah, Alaude." His voice shivered. Alaude didn't even bother to glance at Lampo.

"Your shouting is disrupting the discipline, brat," he hissed, making Lampo flinch.

"Well, I won't apologize for my urgentness to bring the news," Lampo said, quickly regaining back his composure.

"Urgentness? Is that even a word?" Lyn gasped, hardly speaking because of the handcuff around her neck. Chrome took a second to think about, and then shook her head.

"I don't think so," she said silently. Lampo completely ignored the two, or rather, he pretended to.

"Anyway," Lampo quickly shook it off. "There are intruders in the mansion!" he exclaimed, not realizing that the two caught girls were already ones.

"I know," Alaude said, his eyes narrowing. "Primo ordered that the tree intruders are to be caught and brought to the conference room unharmed," he recited. Lampo blinked, observing Alaude carefully.

"Um, Alaude… did Primo take you for a private talk again if you're listening to his orders this obediently?" he asked, pointing at the two confused girls that were sitting on two chairs by side and watching the interaction between the two first generation guardians. Alaude coldly raised an eyebrow at Lampo, who sweat-dropped.

"I thought so," the teen mumbled in his chin a bit too hearable. Alaude cleared his throat, shooting an extra cold glare at him, hoping that looking at him would burn two small holes in his face, since that is far more painful than killing him.

"Say what you want and get lost," he hissed warningly. Lampo sweat-dropped again, giving a few connected nods.

"About that, as I said already, there's an intruder in the mansion… and well, I won't go and chase him around!" Lampo exclaimed. "Guy is freaking powerful!" he cried, remembering how the boxer dude defeated the Vongola guards.

"Oh, is that so?" Alaude asked skeptically. "You want me to go and chase the one who you let escape?" he questioned darkly. Lampo thought about it for a second, and then nodded. Alaude felt like rolling his eyes would be a good idea, but it would make him seem strange.

"Yes," Lampo unsurely answered to Alaude's question. The blonde man sighed.

"Don't let them move even an inch until Primo gets here," he said warningly, gesturing towards Chrome and Lyn who were pretty much silent.

"Why would the great Lampo-sama watch over the stupid brats?" Lampo stirred. Alaude sent him a short glance. Before he left the room, he made sure that the green-haired brat had invisible, but painful injuries that will take a while to heal.

Inside the conference room, Lampo kept groaning and complaining about the pain and he was even cursing at Alaude. Girls, tired from that, but unable to move (thanks to Alaude's handcuffs) made a silent deal, as only illusionists could.

"Oh, shut up," Lyn muttered, before she and Chrome created a few illusions just to make sure that Lampo wouldn't be bored and as annoying while they were trying to find a way to escape.

Too bad, Alaude was just too careful. Handcuffs on arms and legs, pinning them to the chairs plus Lyn still had a handcuff on her neck had them completely immobilized. Their escape might take a while, since it was obvious that Lampo couldn't help them.

* * *

><p>"So, wait… if I got this right, you're from two hundred years in future, most possibly descendants of me and my guardians. You're here without even knowing why and you want to go home?" Giotto just repeated everything that Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto were trying their best to explain him for an hour already.<p>

"Well, yes," Tsuna sighed in the end of a long, long explanation that they had given to the first Vongola boss. Tsuna decided to skip the part about them being in the mafia as well out of two reasons. One, he was still denying it himself. Two, he was sure that the first Vongola boss wouldn't be able to take anything more than that, and neither would Asari.

"Excuse my rudeness then, but that sounds more than impossible," Asari said simply after taking a minute or so to swallow everything.

"Hehe. We sort of think so too," Tsuna muttered, scratching the back of his head. "But then again, that's what it is. There's not much we can do about it."

"I see," Giotto gave a short nod of understanding. All five of them were sitting in Asari's garden, in a circle, and now mute silence, until…

"Wait, Giotto," Asari said suddenly. "You _see_?" he looked at the blonde confusedly.

"Well, they're not lying," Giotto reasoned with a shrug.

Asari sighed. As much as he wanted to believe such story, it was rather hard, thought that would explain many things. He looked at Tsuna again and thought of his cousin… no, he wasn't going to bring it up now.

"Does that mean that you'll help us?" Tsuna asked with shiny puppy eyes. Sure, he wasn't feeling easy when he asked that, but the fact was that they did need help. They really did. So who better to ask than Vongola Primo himself?

"Uh…" Giotto stared at the young brunette and his friends who tensed right away, waiting for his answer. "Um, well, yes…" he said in the end. _Not like I have much choice anyway_, he thought.

"Thank you, Primo-san! Thank you very much!" Tsuna shouted, jumping up on his feet. "And by the way, how is Knuckle-san?" he asked.

"Good thinking, Tsuna!" Yamamoto joined in, also jumping on his feet, thought he was defeated by Gokudera (who was murmuring 'Jyuudaime has the best thinking!') for a split second. "He looked pretty tired the last time we saw him." Yamamoto reckoned.

"Oh, that reminds me," Giotto said, as he and Asari also stood up. "We should go check on him."

"Yeah, sounds good," Asari agreed, and the group of five headed off to the medical rooms.

In the meantime, in the medical room, Knuckle was cheerfully chatting with Ryohei about boxing, patriotism, extreme guards that are protecting Vongola mansion, and again, boxing. They were so into their conversation that they had completely lost the sense of time, but who cares. They were having fun, right ne?

Their entertainment would have probably continued for a long time, that Giotto and Asari suddenly hadn't barged into the room, followed by the three teens that Knuckle most probably owed a lot to, but didn't know them. Ryohei, of course, knew who they were.

"Hey, Giotto, Asari!" the first Sun guardian greeted cheerfully, in the meantime…

"Yo Sawada, Yamamoto, octopus-head!" the tenth Sun guardian roared.

"Yo, sempai!" the tenth Rain guardian exclaimed cheerfully.

"Onii-san, what are you doing here?" Tsuna questioned, and the first generation guardians were long forgotten. They were surprised that Knuckle had a visitor and that was someone who they didn't know, just that it would turn out that Knuckle's visitor knew Tsuna and Yamamoto and Gokudera. _Is he also from the past?_Primo wondered.

"I was extremely lost in the woods, Sawada!" Ryohei explained, "And then I found a way here! It was extremely fun!"

"I'm glad that you were having fun, Onii-san." Tsuna nervously smiled.

Giotto blinked. _So I have more than one descendant?_ He thought, noticing that Tsuna kept calling Ryohei Onii-san which wasn't making much sense to Giotto, since Ryohei looked a lot more like Knuckle. Unless if he was Knuckle's descendant or somehow Giotto's and Knuckle's families me- no. It's better to stop there. Giotto's mind would overheat.

"Ah. So we're in the past." Ryohei nodded his head in understanding. Tsuna and Gokudera sighed in relief after spending twenty minutes to explain him that much.

"I'm glad that you understand that now stupid turf-top," Gokudera hissed. "Next time I'll just bang your head whenever you ask from me to repeat what I said."

Ryohei ignored the statement from Gokudera, and kept looking at Sawada, confused. "I extremely don't get it." He shrugged. Tsuna stuck his head in his palms. Why was he having a feeling that this would happen?

In the meantime, Giotto and Asari were explaining Knuckle what was going on and who the teens were. Knuckle, for a difference of Ryohei, realized it quite fast, though it was pretty hard for him to believe it as well.

"Oh, by the way, Giotto," Knuckle said, as a matter of fact, "I think G's back. The carriage arrived."

"Oh, really?" Giotto asked, now remembering that G wasn't very happy of having to go for a meeting instead of Giotto. "T-thank you for telling me that, Knuckle," he added silently, lowering his head.

"Uh, Jyuudaime, since turf-top is here as well, don't you think that the Hibari bastard and the pineapple-freak could be here as well?" Gokudera suddenly asked, making Tsuna take a second and think about it.

"Eh?" he paled at the thought of what would've happened then. "L-let's just hope… Let's just hope that they're not," Tsuna said finally.

"Why?" Giotto was the one to ask the hellish question. Tsuna, though, couldn't find an answer to that question that would actually satisfy Primo.

* * *

><p>"Hm, I see," Reborn said, finishing the phone call he had taken several minutes ago. It's been hours, and he's been staring in the small paper where two names were written by permanent marker. <em>Hibari Kyoya and Azzaro Lyn… what the hell happened to you,<em> he thought.

For the whole hour, he was trying to find any possible information on the two, but apparently, there were none. It was like they never even existed, yet Reborn was sure that they _did_,in fact, exist. After all, he would never scribe a random name in that notebook, and he could remember the silhouettes of the two pretty well, but that was all. It was starting to seriously annoy him. Not ever he had forgotten anything like that, and he had a bad feeling that he was forgetting even more than he thought.

He even asked Enma to see what he thinks of the both, and Dino and in the end the stupid Giannini, but nothing. They all knew nothing. He called Aria then, just to find that she was still missing without a clue and then he even called Verde and Colonello and even stupid Shouichi Irie, but no one could give the satisfying answers to his questions.

The last option was on just now. He hoped that maybe someone from CEDEF would know, but then again, chances for that were more than minimal. Only one person left to check then, and Reborn wasn't exactly thrilled for the visit that he was about to make. He was not happy at all.

* * *

><p>G was barging in random rooms in search for Giotto, but it was useless. The blonde man was nowhere to be found, and G found it annoying, since apparently, his boss was hiding from his faithful right-hand man. Anyway, G decided to go and check if he can find his boss in the conference room now, since he requested intruders to be taken there, but only thing he found there was another surprise.<p>

Two girls, purple haired one and the blonde, were sitting on the chairs, pretty well locked up in Alaude's handcuffs. Alaude was nowhere to be seen, while Lambo was rolling on the floor, suffocating in his own laugh.

"What the hell?" G asked, staring at the green haired teenager, stunned. Lampo thought didn't hear and continued hysterically laughing.

"We were just tired from idiot complaining whole time," Lyn gasped, still not able to talk normally because of the handcuffs. Chrome innocently nodded, agreeing with Lyn. G questionably looked at the rolling-on-the-floor-Lampo. He remembered that Lyn was an illusionist.

"What are you making him see to make him laugh like that? Bull fight?" G asked. That earned a sweet smile coming from Lyn.

"I might even tell you, if you take this off me," she gasped, using her head to gesture at the handcuff around her neck. G was hesitant for a moment, but seeing that she wouldn't be able to go anywhere even if he does take it off, he broke off the handcuff on the girl's neck.

"Spill it out," he ordered, eyeing the coughing Lyn.

"All right, all right, what's with all the rush?" Lyn said after she stopped coughing. She was glad to have her voice back. "Actually, your friend over there," she said, pointing at the hysterically laughing Lambo, "he's watching Daemon Spade dancing Caramelldansen in a ballerina skirt." She nonchalantly added, "Now I believe you wouldn't know what Caramelldansen is, but trust me, its worth the laugh."

G was silent for a second, before his mouth dropped in attempt to say something.

"Want to watch the show as well?" Lyn innocently asked while Chrome was hiding a discreet smile.

"Like hell I do! You think I'll just let you cast illusion at me?" G growled at the girl. Lyn would shrug just that she had been capable of that. She exchanged short look with Chrome, and nodded, and Chrome nodded back. They needed to work on that together so that the both first generation guardians wouldn't see through the illusion quickly.

"Enjoy," she said to G and the girls casted the illusion, strengthened with Chrome's Mist earring, version X. After all, if they couldn't get away, why not having some fun?

"What the hell?" G growled. "I told you not to cast the fucking illusion on me!" he roared, but in a matter of a few seconds, he was joining in hysterical laugh with Lambo.

"You know, Lyn-chan, I wonder," Chrome started absently.

"Yes, Chrome-san?" the blonde girl asked.

"Why is everyone having fun while we sit here, locked in handcuffs?" Chrome shyly asked.

"Reality is cruel, Chrome-san. Reality is cruel," Lyn sighed. "I think that one day I'll cast an illusion on myself just so that I wouldn't have to go through the cruel reality."

"You need any help with that, Lyn-chan?" Chrome offered.

"Of course." Lyn grinned from ear to ear. The grin went off as soon as Giotto, Asari and Knuckle, followed by Tsuna and his guardians, burst in the room.

"Hello~" Lyn sang cheerfully.

"Eh?" Giotto, Asari and Knuckle confusedly stared at the room. In one side of the room, G and Lampo were hysterically laughing, while on the other side, Chrome and Lyn were sitting, cuffed to the chairs. Giotto wondered first what was wrong with his two guardians, and then what the hell was with the two cuffed girls that he had never seen before.

"C-Chrome and _Lyn_?" Tsuna's mouth dropped at the sight of the two girls.

Giotto sighed. _I should've known,_he thought.

"The hell!" the tenth generation Storm guardian frowned. "I can understand Chrome, but what the hell are you doing here, stupid brat?" Gokudera hissed at Lyn mercilessly.

"G-Gokudera-kun," Tsuna scolded.

"T-that's how much you appreciate me?" Lyn asked with fake tears in her eyes. "I love you too, Hayato-san."

"Shut the hell up!" Gokudera growled. Yamamoto came in time to tap his shoulder and calm him down, just before the bomber burst out on Yamamoto as well.

"Uh, excuse me," Giotto started weakly, "But what is wrong with them?" he asked, pointing at the two first generation guardians who were still hysterically laughing. Chrome and Lyn looked at each other, and Chrome shook her head no, so Lyn took the initiative.

"They're watching Daemon Spade dancing Caramelldansen in a ballerina skirt," she elaborated, then smirked. "Now I believe you wouldn't know what Caramelldansen is, but trust me, its worth the laugh."

Giotto blinked.

"EH! You made Daemon Spade do that?" Yamamoto asked, wide grin on his face.

"Of course," Lyn replied. "Anyone else wants to watch the show?" she asked. "Chrome and I are happy to be the ones providing it." She sweetly smiled.

"A-and how about just letting them go?" Giotto suggested, but Lyn shook her head no, at the same time as Chrome did.

"We wouldn't do that yet." It was Chrome who replied.

"Yeah," Lyn added. "We don't want to die by the hands of Daemon Spade yet. If he survives Kyoya-san, that is."

"Wait, if he survives…?" the first Vongola boss started.

"Hibari-san!" the tenth Vongola boss finished.

"Eh? That bastard Hibari is here too?" Gokudera shouted.

"That's extremely interesting!" Ryohei shouted. Chrome and Lyn tried shrugging in union, but failed miserably.

"Wait! Are you saying that that Hibari, or however, is fighting Daemon? As in right now?" Giotto asked, carefully looking at the two girls.

"Ay, ay sir!" Lyn said. "They're upstairs. When I last saw them, Kyoya-san had a great advantage."

"Ah, as expected from Hibari, huh?" Yamamoto chuckled.

"T-that's not good! If Hibari-san and Daemon Spade are fighting _right now_…" Tsuna murmured, but there was no need for Tsuna to say anything more. Loud explosion came from the upper floor, and after the explosion, the silence was piercing everyone's ears. Oops, that was supposed to be, Lampo's and G's laugh were piercing their ears, since they still weren't aware of things going on around them thanks to mostly Chrome's strong illusions.

"You think that—?" Giotto looked at Knuckle and Asari worriedly, but they only nodded their heads to confirm that they agreed with whatever Giotto was thinking.

"T-this is bad!" Tsuna shouted. "W-we need to stop them!" he then added, and mostly everyone sane agreed. The group rushed out of the conference room, heading upstairs.

"Hey! What about us?" Lyn shouted behind them, but no one seemed to hear. Chrome sighed, and Lyn pouted. "Chrome-san, how about another deal?" she asked, turning her head towards Chrome.

"Lyn-chan?" the eye-patch girl asked uncertainly, seeing that Lyn's face now held an insanely weird smirk.

* * *

><p>*In my country it is a custom to say 'true enough' or any variations of it after someone sneezes.<p>

I couldn't resist throwing it in.


	6. Duo goes missing

Chrome usually wouldn't be bothered much by plot ideas or any sorts of jokes that Lyn would come up with, but this one that she heard now, she wasn't that willing to try it out. Actually, she wanted to… just out of curiosity to see her boss' and his guardians' faces, as well as the first generation guardians'. But, it was just too cruel thing to do.

"Lyn-chan… I don't think that it's such a good idea…" she murmured silently. After all, making everyone who had left them behind believe that G and Lampo would never be able to calm down had its fun sides… but Chrome was slightly feeling sorry, wondering if they'll be alright, since the girls were still holding their illusion up. Chrome was worrying that Lampo and G already had their brains damaged from all the laughing.

"But no one will be hurt," Lyn justified. "We only have to make them act insane for five minutes, which shouldn't be hard if you join in with me, and then oh la la! We win!" she exclaimed, cheerfully grinning at the purple-haired girl.

"But…" Chrome tried to object again, but she couldn't come up with an argument for that.

"OH I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Lampo shouted, still laughing. "I'll never be able to forget this! Great Lampo-sama will reward you for this!" he kept shouting to no one in particular.

"Oh, they're insane already, even better!" Lyn smiled. "I think we can release them now," she then added, gesturing to Chrome with her head to stop creating the illusion. Chrome sighed and nodded, and the illusion that was wrapping up G's and Lampo's mind went down.

They were panting, wide and stupid smiles still playing over their faces. Not even a fact that they knew that what they saw was an illusion could keep them from fighting to it. Lyn had a smug face on.

"See, Chrome?" she asked. "Best way to defeat someone is to make them laugh," she said smartly, feeling proud of the idea that came into her mind. Chrome though, wasn't as proud. She had a feeling that G might as well kill them now, but he was still having a smiling face on, which was quite entertaining to see.

"Y-You…" G said, pointing finger at both girls. "I won't forgive the damn illusion… but… if the stupid Daemon ever tries to get you… feel free to call for help," he muttered silently, and girls had partly a problem to hear it, but they understood well enough what G was saying, and Lyn turned to Chrome with a victorious smile.

"Nice way to make your opponent become your friend, ne?" she said simply. "Now when G-san would just set us free from this…"

"No," G said sharply.

"Okay… I went too far…" Lyn murmured in her chin, putting on a pout.

"Now only if you could make this real…" Lampo muttered, "Lampo-sama would've set you free…" he silently said, scratching his head. G hit him on the head the next second.

"Don't even let such ideas cross your mind, stupid brat!" he hissed angrily, "They could still be spies!" he added, pointing at the two chained girls who were both tensed with the idea, but Lyn as well was interested.

"Now let's go. We need to find Primo!" G added, grabbing Lambo by the collar. The green-haired royal brat complained, but it was hopeless. G dragged him away out of the conference room. He wasn't afraid anymore that the two girls would escape. Alaude just got them too well… and besides, they would've left while they were trapped in the illusion, right?

"Wait! What about us?" Lyn shouted behind G, but the doors were shut so she never got her reply. "They suck…" she muttered. "This is so lame…"

"Mhm…" Chrome mumbled, nodding her head.

"It sure is," a cold, silent whisper came from behind the two girls, making cold sweat to go down their spine. They would've leave the place they were in within two seconds, only if they could move… but hence, Alaude cuffing them to chairs was a really lame move indeed, in their opinion.

As something cold brushed their necks, girls both screamed as loud as they could, since whatever that something was, it was icily cold, and sharp. They kept screaming and hoping that at least someone would hear.

"Now now, this is supposed to be fun," a familiar voice to the two said and a familiar person came out from behind them, smirking at two girls.

"Y-You…" Lyn murmured with her eyes wide opened. Chrome too was in shock. Out of every single person she could think of, the one standing before her, doing what he was doing, well, she would've never even thought of.

* * *

><p>"Eh? Lyn said upstairs, right?" Yamamoto asked, as the group arrived on the floor up in search for Hibari and Daemon in order to stop their fight.<p>

"Yes," Giotto confirmed. "I have a really bad feeling about it thought… I know Daemon always loved spending his time here… but… that Hibari guy fighting Daemon here… on the mansion…" he shook his head, not wanting to think of it. They were running from room to room, but there was nothing. Each room was either an old bedroom either empty or a nicely done bedroom. But there were one door that Giotto never even stepped in, and that was Daemon's private dressing room, or that's just like how Giotto liked calling it. He promised that he will never enter the room, since it was the only way to force his Mist guardian to live in the Vongola mansion as it is, and Daemon requested that room to be his and only his, so he was the only one having access.

Since those doors were the last ones to check, and they were now directly above conference room… that room had to be the one. And there were sounds of fighting coming out of it. Giotto placed his hand on the handle, but hesitated in opening it.

"Come on Giotto, why did you stop now? If Daemon is torturing a teen…" Knuckle mused warningly. Giotto was well aware of that possibility, but he just couldn't force himself to break the promise.

"You go in without me…" he said in the end, earning strange looks from Tsuna, Asari, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Ryohei and Knuckle. He sheepishly looked at them, trying to explain it "I promised to Daemon to never go inside…" he said silently.

Asari and Knuckle did the most logical thing, and that was face-palming. After all, they knew what kind of person their boss used to be when they had just moved in that mansion. They sighed.

"I guess we'll just have to get in without you then…" Asari said, taking over the handle. Tsuna, Yamamoto, Ryohei and Gokudera weren't exactly familiar with the situation, but they understood that it was better not to interfere… not after everything they've been through with Daemon.

Giotto stepped back, letting Asari to open the doors, but there was no exact need for that. There was a loud explosion inside the room and Asari instinctively moved away from the door, which was a good move. Second latter, the doors, together with a person, were taken off by the force, hitting the opposite wall.

"Eh?" Tsuna blinked, staring at the doors and the person who now stumbled down on his knees. "D-DAEMON SPADE!" he exclaimed, his face going pale. From the hole where once were the doors, Hibari Kyoya came out, having an annoyed and irritated face on.

"Hn… I was right all along, Daemon Spade," he spoke, ignoring the existence of the herbivores aside. "You are an herbivore," he claimed. Bracelet of the Cloud shined on his wrist, tonfas were sparkling in his hands. Giotto, Knuckle and Asari were stunned, watching Daemon Spade with a few drops of blood leaving his mouth, messed up hair, clothes badly damaged. He was tightly gripping over his scythe, looking at Hibari with eyes full of hate. Present first generation guardians now looked at Hibari who was just standing there with his school uniform on and only a _bit_ dirtied school uniform. He had a scratch on his cheek that was still bleeding, and no bigger injuries.

"H-Hibari-san!" the Vongola Decimo boss-to-be stammered. "Y-you… you totally overpowered Daemon Spade…" he whispered in awe. Tsuna remembered how hard was for him and Enma together to defeat Daemon… but apparently, the Daemon in the future was far more powerful along with Shimon rings.

"HN, it wasn't even fun," Hibari commented. He was honestly disappointed. The last time he had encountered Daemon, that melon head was far more powerful. This current version just made Hibari disappointed.

"I'm not done yet," Daemon hissed, not caring that even Primo was present. With no hesitation, he charged at Hibari with his scythe. He wasn't lingering even to kill the damn Alaude-look-alike, not even in front of Primo. Though, Daemon's attack was finally stopped by Hibari's tonfa, err- chain that had extended from his tonfa, wrapping around Daemon scythe.

"Just as I said, you're a mere herbivore," Hibari coldly said, not even moving when Daemon forcefully tried releasing his scythe – and failed. Hibari had a sneer look on his face. "Mere herbivores are to be bitten to death," he added and charged at Daemon mercilessly.

Giotto felt like interfering with that was a good thing to be done, but anyway, someone did think about it before he did. Right before Hibari was to hit Daemon, his tonfa was stopped by Tsuna's bare hand. Tsuna didn't think a lot about his act before he had actually done it. It was just in an instant that he realized that this one was one of those rare times when Hibari wasn't fighting for the sake of fighting, more revenge, and that was certainly worse than pure fighting desire, at least when it comes to Hibari.

"Way to go, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera shouted, cheering his boss.

Yamamoto also said something supportive to Tsuna, but it was lost in 'Go extreme, Sawada!' by Ryohei. Giotto and his guardians were pretty much shocked, not seeing Tsuna like a person to willingly involve himself with a fight!

"You also wish to be bitten to death?" Hibari questioned, his brow twitching. "Cause I'll gladly make that wish come true," he added, sneering at Tsuna in his Hyper Dying Will mode. Hibari tried releasing his weapon from Tsuna's grip, but Tsuna wasn't letting go.

"Stop this, Hibari," he said in calm and composed voice, making the first generation guardians think that he wasn't Tsuna, more actually someone else. The wimpy and sort of squeamish voice that he used to have was now gone.

"Who ever said that I'm taking orders from you?" Hibari's eyes narrowed in irritation, but the brunette still wasn't letting go.

"There are currently more important things, Hibari," Tsuna said. "As you can see, we're hundreds years in past right now!" he added, releasing Hibari's tonfa after he noticed the change of expression in Hibari's face. It wasn't big though. It was more like a change from mere irritation to pure annoyance, but it was a change.

"Then how about you start looking for a way to go back, rather than wasting my time?" Hibari asked, irritated. Tsuna, in confusion, first just blinked. He had never heard Hibari say more words to him all at once. Usually those were like five-word sentences (e.g. I'll bite you to death) but this one was quite a long one for Hibari. Tsuna stepped back from Hibari, flame on his forehead dying down.

"You're right about that…" the normal Tsuna mused silently. "B-but please… don't go out fighting anyone for now…" he added. Hibari looked at Tsuna beneath the eye.

"As I said, I'm not taking orders from herbivores," he said, though returned his tonfas to his secret hiding place and left, leaving tensed silence behind him. Tsuna was utmost certain that the prefect had went up to the roof.

"W-what was that… just now?" Giotto was the first to speak after the prefect left. He was certain that Tsuna's voice was completely different, just as his speed was amazing. Even Giotto didn't see when the brunette got a chance to stop Hibari. And there was that feeling that Giotto was having… a rather familiar one. It was actually so familiar that Giotto did feel that the boy looked like him in more than just looks. And he wasn't the only one. Asari and Knuckle shared his opinion.

"Ah… I'm glad that's over…" Tsuna said. He felt so much easier now when in odd sort of way, Hibari agreed not to fight, or was it just Tsuna's imagination that he saw Hibari giving a weak nod? Yeah, it was probably imagination. "Um… it was nothing, Primo-san…" Tsuna then added, scratching the back of his head.

"What are you saying, that was amazing, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera shouted faithful as always. Tension in the area, though, was still present. And fault for that mostly belonged to Daemon. Why? Well one, as of tenth generation not being very fond of Daemon, and not even willing to come anywhere near him (Tsuna did just save his ass though). And two, because Daemon was in such a bad mood that just another sight of Hibari, or even Alaude, would set him on such raging fire that he would go insane. Ripping them off was probably the best choice, though Daemon for now was only trying to get the gimps of the brunette that saved him, because he could swear that the thing on his forehead was flame just as Giotto's at times he saw Giotto fighting. It wasn't something Daemon could ever predict.

* * *

><p>"I was right," Reborn nodded in confirmation to himself. He was looking at the names on the small notebook, of Hibari Kyoya and Azzaro Lyn, which were now slowly fading. In the meantime, just to make sure that he doesn't forget about them, Reborn wrote it on another paper, which didn't seem to fade yet, and he was glad about it. The more time was passing, the less he was forgetting about the two, though he was aware that he was forgetting something else. "So, would you be kind enough to explain me that?" Reborn asked, eyeing the person that was smiling at him playfully, in the meantime chewing marshmallows, through glass.<p>

"I have no idea what you're implying, Reborn-kun," playful voice of the marshmallow eater retorted.

"As I said it before, Byakuran," Reborn said in dangerous and serious voice. "Hibari and Lyn are missing and no one else knows that they even existed, well, besides you now. But the point is that I think you know what is going on."

"Ah, ah, Reborn-kun… I still don't know what you're talking about," Byakuran sweetly smiled. "Maybe you're just asking the wrong person about it. After all, I don't know who those Hibari and Lyn are," he said, implying a sly smirk.

Reborn wanted to curse at the man's face, but this time he had no arguments with which to do so. Just as he was sure that Hibari and Lyn existed, that's exactly how unsure he was of them having any possible connection with Byakuran, and that's what kept bothering the infant the most. Or maybe not… another thing that was bothering him even more was the question 'what is he forgetting about'.

But that's when the pieces of puzzles in his head united, giving a part of the picture that he was trying hard to see. He was disappointed with himself because he didn't think of it straight away. His lone knowledge of Hibari and Lyn was there because he had written it just a minute after they have left. After two hours, the letters started fading, so Reborn wrote it on another paper. Before those two hours had passed, everything was normal, but after, it was like neither Lyn nor Hibari even existed.

Another question now flashed in Reborn's mind. What if Hibari and Lyn weren't the only ones?

* * *

><p>"Ah… I'm glad this is all settled now…" Giotto said, taking a seat on the chair in his office. Last half an hour he spent trying to explain to Daemon who the intruders actually were, and as for being confused themselves, Alaude and Knuckle also were looking for explanations on their own. Two out of the tree mentioned guardians were over all pissed.<p>

Daemon, because he was defeated by a mere brat; Alaude, because he failed to catch his prey, mostly because his prey was running around with Giotto, Asari, Knuckle, Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto, though he did come to the understanding of the situation. Giotto even asked from him to release Chrome and Lyn, but Alaude refused, leaving to his own room.

Daemon in the meantime also left Giotto's office, rather pissed. Another reason for that was because of the stupid brat that he wanted to torture, turned out to be the tenth generation's Lightning guardian, and when he was found in Daemon's private torture area, Giotto who kept sneezing all the time, refused to forgive Daemon that easy for torturing a mere child, so Daemon left his office in rage, heading over to his own room.

Now only Knuckle was left in the office with Giotto, demanding a bit simpler explanation, that Giotto barely managed to give him. Knuckle had quickly come to an understanding, but then his and Giotto's discussion went on a whole other track that they were both very curious about. How come that those mere teenagers were so powerful to either protect Knuckle from the enemies or even defeat Daemon?

"I must give it to them Giotto, what they did for their age is more than amazing. I'm just starting to be worried about a small possibility that they're already in the mafia… that boy, Hayato… kept calling the Tsuna boy the tenth generation," Knuckle pointed out. Giotto gave a short nod to agree with it.

"I noticed it as well," he said. "And Tsuna also did some pretty amazing things as well… Hibari boy managed to defeat Daemon… those two girls completely overpowered G and Lampo with illusions…" he made a summary of what had happened ever since the children came to the mansion.

"Giotto, we might not accept it, but this could turn out to be very serious…" Knuckle murmured. Giotto silently agreed, but then the thought came through his mind.

"Knuckle, have you given me your report on the mission you were on yesterday?" Giotto suddenly asked, remembering something. He sneezed the next second. That the children didn't appear, he wouldn't have forgotten about it, but that mission of the information gathering that Knuckle was on was actually quite important.

"Uh, about that… I think I extremely didn't," Knuckle shrugged. "I'll go get it right away!" he exclaimed, seeing the unapproving look on Giotto's face. The first Sun guardian rushed out of the office, in the meantime passing next to G, who looked disrupted.

"Hey G!" the Sun guardian shouted.

"Oi, is Primo in the office?" G shouted back, irritated. Seeing that G was rather in a bad mood, Knuckle decided not to dig his head into it. He knew very well how much Storm guardian hated alliance meetings… and for Giotto to make him go on one… Knuckle shook his head. He just hoped that Giotto will be careful with words this time.

G thoughtlessly broke through the doors of Giotto's office. He entered in. startling the young boss when he hit the desk with his palm with huge amount of strength.

"G-G…" Giotto stuttered, glaring at his Storm guardian, wondering why he was so pissed. The last thing Giotto knew about G was that he was overwhelmed with the illusions and kept laughing like insane in the corner right after he came back from an err- that was it… alliance meeting.

"Y-you-" G started, clutching his hand in fist, with desire to hit the desk straight away, knowing that that will just bring more paperwork to Giotto.

"G… I…" Giotto tried saying something in his defense, formally crossing his arms and legs, and then sneezed. G paid no attention to that, when he slammed huge piles of papers on Giotto's desk.

"My desk, till morning!" the Storm guardian harshly said. Giotto blinked, confused about it. At times he felt like he wasn't even a boss.

"G!" Giotto called right before the Storm guardian was about to leave his office. G stopped, angrily sending a look at Giotto with a part of his eye. Giotto cleared his throat. "G, what is this?" the Vongola Primo asked, glancing in the amount of paperwork in front of him worth for a month. G was silent for a minute, wondering how to answer the question.

"Damage caused by the bastards on the meeting," he simply said. Giotto's eyes were sort of in shock, wide opened, openly asking 'WHAT'. G sighed, not even surprised with Giotto's reaction. "The property of the English royal escort barged in the middle of the meeting, drunk, asking for fight."

Giotto quickly nodded his head, composing inside a little. "Alright…" he murmured. "But G…" he continued, checking the papers on the top. "Why was it you who was the cause of all the damage?" the Vongola Primo asked in weak voice.

G let a glorious smirk appear on his face. "Che… who do you think that beat up their ass?" he asked. Next second, G left the office, leaving Giotto to think once again about sending his right hand to alliance meetings. If it's gonna be such a wrack, next time he should try sending Daemon, thought he felt like that would be even worse.

His eyes fell on the huge amount of papers he was supposed to go through. G had broken his personal record… and Alaude's. Giotto gulped. _Alaude won't be so happy about this_, he thought, getting straight to work.

"Hey, Giotto, here they are!" Knuckle said, also barging into Giotto's office, now when G was far off. Giotto only slightly nodded, already working on the papers that G had given him. "I better just leave this here," Knuckle murmured in the end, leaving the papers in corner of the table.

"Thank you, Knuckle," Giotto murmured, right after his Sun guardian left the office. Now, Giotto felt like crying.

* * *

><p>After the whole situation with Daemon's fight with Hibari was mostly taken care off, Giotto sent Asari to take Tsuna and his guardians and let them have the guest rooms in the mansion. He could at least be generous to someone who was about to succeed him, right? And Asari followed his orders straight away. He had given the rooms to Tsuna and his guardians, in the meantime showing them around so that they wouldn't get lost.<p>

Lambo, after he had re-united with Tsuna, well, he kept asking from candies which he obviously didn't get from Daemon. Although Tsuna and Gokudera were against the idea right away, two Rain guardians found it fun, and promised Lambo to take him off for some candies a bit latter, which Lambo happily agreed to. Tsuna and Gokudera were left hanging, while only Ryohei wasn't giving it any bigger attention.

After they were all shown which their room was, somehow, the legendary four had gathered in Tsuna's room, while Lambo was sent off with Asari to eat candies. Now, the tenth generation guardians that were present wanted to sum it up in their heads what was exactly what happened.

"Whoa… Hibari was awesome, wasn't he?" Yamamoto was the one to break the silence with a wide grin.

"Hibari was extreme!" Ryohei roared. "Though, I have to give a word of praise for Sawada too. That was also EXTREME!" he added.

"Of course, Jyuudaime is the best there is!" Gokudera claimed. Out of all of them, only Tsuna had a feeling that something was wrong… feeling like he was forgetting about something… something very important and he just couldn't remember what.

"Haha, yeah, Tsuna was awesome too!" Yamamoto laughed. "Daemon really did deserve to get a beating from Hibari…" he then added, his face losing only a small part of cheerfulness, but the most of it was still there.

"You're right about that, Yamamoto," Ryohei nodded affirmatively. "Melon head extremely deserved what he got. Don't you agree, Sawada?" the question was actually a loud shout. Tsuna, who was lost in his thoughts, just confusedly looked at the boxer and nervously smiled.

"R-right… Onii-san…" he silently said. Everyone was able to notice that Tsuna looked somewhat worried.

"Is something the matter, Jyuudaime?" Gokudera asked faithfully. Tsuna shook his head no. Gokudera didn't give, though. "Jyuudaime is it because of the stupid Hibari that you're worried?" he guessed. "Or is it because of the girl, Chrome… and stupid brat?" Gokudera asked. Tsuna was just about to deny it, when he realized something.

"T-that's it, Gokudera-kun!" he exclaimed. "W-we totally forgot about Chrome and Lyn!" he said.

"Oh, you're right, Tsuna… we were in such a rush to find Hibari that we totally forgot to set them free…" Yamamoto remembered, feeling a bit down because of that. Ryohei and Gokudera didn't find it whatever either.

"Tch… stupid brat… Making Jyuudaime worry again…" Gokudera hissed silently.

"W-we need to find them now, everyone!" Tsuna said, and they were all up on their feet now. Tsuna still couldn't believe that he had forgotten about his Mist guardian and Lyn. And he also wanted to ask how come that they were even there.

So the guys ran out of their rooms, headed over to the conference room where Chrome and Lyn were last seen. In the meantime, they've ran onto Lampo, who just got away from them immediately. He was told that the rest of the teens present in the mansion were the descendant of his and the rest of Primo's guardians, and Lampo didn't like it… especially because he couldn't figure out who his descendant was. Regardless, he decided to not even bother. It was better not to know, and he was right about it.

Tsuna, Yamamoto, Gokudera and Ryohei kept running towards the conference room. If Lampo passed by them just then, it probably meant that Chrome and Lyn released him and G from the illusions they were in, it was probably because they either had enough, or they were set free. When they had broke into the conference room, which they luckily remembered where it was, they found it empty, meaning that the girls were on freedom.

Or maybe not.

Tsuna realized that something was wrong right away. The room looked fine and all… but the chairs that Lyn and Chrome were sitting on were taking a bad damage. At first he thought that it was because they've been struggling hard to release themselves so in the middle of the process, they managed to badly damage the chairs… but Tsuna changed his mind straight away, seeing the blood on handcuffs that were on the floor, beneath the chairs.

"C-Chrome… L-Lyn…" he silently gasped. It was wrong. He knew that the first generation guardians wouldn't hurt them… Tsuna was well aware of that. Possibly Daemon would hurt them if pissed, but even that wasn't an option since Giotto said that everyone who came from the future were safe. Brunette was sure that whatever it was, it was badly wrong.

"W-where are they… Jyuudaime…?" Gokudera was the one to ask the question. Tsuna weakly shook his head, trying to say that he doesn't know.

"Well, they can't be far off," Yamamoto said, trying to cheer the atmosphere a bit, thought he as well was worried.

"Yeah, Sawada… Yamamoto is right. And the two aren't weak… they can extremely take care of themselves…" Ryohei mused, sure about his words. Tsuna nodded, trying to agree with him, but it felt wrong. He had a feeling, just like he had when Mukuro was around, but this was clutching him even more.

"Why don't we go and ask Primo about it, Jyuudaime?" Gokudera suggested. "He should know if something had happened around here."

Tsuna, Yamamoto and Ryohei gave a united nod, and the four ran out of the conference room, now running around to find where Primo's office was. Tsuna nodded, happy that his Storm guardian had a quick mind. Maybe Primo would know something more, even if Tsuna still had a feeling that something bad happened. The blood was proof enough.

In the meantime, Giotto was working on the paperwork that G had dug him up with. He was happy that he had finally managed to work up over the two percent of what he got, and mentally, he kept praising himself every time he was done with another paper, but the pile of papers didn't seem to become smaller no matter how much time had passed. And when Giotto remembered that there was still paperwork left from the damage that was caused upstairs during the fight between Hibari and Daemon, he wanted to give up on it. And there was the paperwork that Knuckle left from his mission and the one that Daemon was supposed to report about the incident.

Giotto mentally groaned. Sometimes, he just hated being the boss. Oh, especially at times of paperwork needing to be done… and then someone suddenly barging into his office out of nowhere, like it happened in that moment.

"PRIMO-SAN!" the Vongola Decimo shouted, running straight into the office. Giotto raised his looks at his young successor, seeing the face of panic in his face.

"Tsuna?" he blinked, rather surprised. "What's wrong?" he asked after Tsuna's three guardians ran in straight behind him.

"Ch-Chrome and Lyn are missing!" Tsuna claimed. "W-We went looking for them in the conference room, but they weren't there… and there was blood on the handcuffs!" he said, all panicked up. Giotto needed to take into consideration that next time, he orders for prisoners to be in his eyesight all the time.

"How do you mean, there was blood?" Giotto asked, finally leaving the paper that he was just about to finish with, that was making the three percent of his work done.

"Come see yourself," Gokudera was the one to say it. Giotto shrugged, getting up. He needed something to keep him away from the papers that he felt like it would be the best to be thrown away. He followed the teens all the way till the conference room, where he saw what the four of them were trying to say.

The room was completely empty except for the objects in it. Girls were nowhere on the sight. Chairs where the girls were sitting before that were damaged and beneath them were handcuffs that were restraining girls earlier. There was some blood on them, which indicated that something did happen. Giotto was sure that whatever it was, it didn't have his guardians involved. Daemon didn't even know about the girls being in there, while Alaude said that he doesn't care. G too didn't care, but he was apparently glad about something that the girls did and Giotto didn't even think of what it could be.

Vongola Primo's eyes narrowed in serious face. Another trouble had come his way… how convenient. He sighed.

"Takeshi," he said making the tenth generation Rain guardian look at him. "Go and warn Asari that there might be intruders in the mansion. Tsuna, Hayato and Ryohei, you go and look around the mansion to see if the girls are still here. If you run onto any of my guardians, tell them that there's a big possibility that there might be real intruders in the mansion," Giotto said in serious voice. He was confused when it turned out that none of the four agreed right away.

Actually, they were all looking at Tsuna. When Tsuna did gave a shaky nod, the rest of them agreed, heading off to do what they were told. Giotto sighed, sneezing. Now he needed to drop the paperwork for a little while, and he was happy about it, though he did feel a bit disappointed in himself, realizing that paperwork was the only thing he was thinking about for a while.

He sighed. G was going to pay for that later.

* * *

><p>"How is he?" a man asked, entering the room where a dark-haired person was lying in the bed, still coughing out blood.<p>

"Better than a few minutes ago, boss," the helper of the one on the bed said. "Do you need anything, master?" he asked, looking at his boss. His boss' eye narrowed at the man lying on the bed. He had uneven bangs in apparently strange color, but due to bad light, it couldn't be told which color was it.

"Was the mission successful?" he asked, looking at the coughing man.

"Y-yes," the one coughed out more blood, but he managed to speak. Their boss had a satisfied smirk on his face. "B-but…" the one lying on the couch continued.

"But what?" the boss' eyes narrowed in irritation.

"T-the Vongola… tenth… with his guardians…" the man barely spoke.

"They weren't sent to the Secondo's time as we planned…" the servant finished the sentence.

"Then in whose time are they?" the master asked, pissed off now. What were his subordinates for if they were useless in what he was asking from them?

"Primo's…" the servant replied. "They were sent to the Primo's time… but there was also an intruder with them, whose identity we can't confirm yet, but we're utmost certain that it isn't Reborn."

"Are there any _good_ news?" their master asked, emphasizing the word 'good', hitting the servant mercilessly.

"Y-yes…" the one who was coughing out blood said.

"Oh, then what is it?" the boss asked skeptically. "There were side effects going on them as well and not just you?" he guessed. The one who was lying on the couch gave a weak nod and a smirk.

"T-their existence is erased from the present… and might as well… in a very short time… be erased from the past…" he spoke. The boss had a satisfied smile playing along his face. Those really were the good news. Now, the Vongola lost full sixty percent of the forces that could go against the boss' plans. That was even better than the original plans… mostly because the brats shouldn't even come back.

* * *

><p><strong>Before anyone starts flaming because I made Hibari too strong in this chapter, remember this! In manga, after Giotto let Tsuna and his guardians have the Vongola rings in real form, they got stronger, but they were totally defeated by Shimon rings. When tenth gen got Vongola gear, it was on pair, or even stronger from Shimon rings, right? Therefore, Vongola gear is stronger than Vongola rings in released form. Sure, we don't know how powerful exactly Giotto and his guardians were, but anyway, not even they can fight Vongola gear so easily, right? (Or is that just how I figured it from the manga)<strong>

**Now, I'm having a weird thought around here. I don't know why exactly, but I'm very interested in who would you pair up Lyn with? Honestly, I'm not planning to do any pairings in the story or anything like that... unless something really unexpected happens (which I doubt) but I would like to hear your opinions. Can you vote on it on the poll please? :)**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :3**


	7. Search, kaishi!

Everyone had gathered by the dining table, by everyone meaning members of the tenth generation Vongola guardians, and first. Starting from the head of the table, Giotto was there. On his right side was G, who was looking across the table at Tsuna, who was on Giotto's left, feeling quite nervous. Next to G was Asari, and next to Asari was Knuckle. Right next to Tsuna was Gokudera, and besides Gokudera was Yamamoto. Next to Yamamoto was Ryohei, and next to Knuckle was Daemon. On the second head of the table, right across Giotto, was Alaude, who out of everyone present, was most displeased, hence, he was the one breaking the awkward silence. Hibari was standing a bit further away from the table, but everyone from the tenth generation was partly thankful that he was even present.

"Are you saying that _my_ pray had gone missing?" Alaude asked, his voice reaching up for the critical point of anger. That day wasn't the best for him. Ever since the intruders broke into the mansion, everything was going downhill. First he went looking for an intruder who in the end turned out to be Knuckle's descendant, and then the two intruders that he personally caught went missing. He was very angry. Like very, very angry.

"Alaude…" Giotto called, gesturing him to calm down. Alaude only had an irritated face playing on. He averted his gaze at Hibari, who was standing, leaning on the wall apparently annoyed. It also pissed off Alaude, but since Giotto had explained him nicely who the teens were, Alaude was _trying_ not to snap and arrest them all at once for breaking into the mansion. It was only because Giotto spent around twenty minutes in begging him not to that he didn't really do it.

Giotto slightly nodded, realizing that his Cloud guardian wasn't about to abandon him in that. He sighed, clearing his throat and started to put up what they did know.

"Well, how about we sum it up on the time when the two could disappear…" he said. When the only reply he got from the other people present were random and weak nods or shrugging and sighing, he continued. "The last time, girls were seen by G at the conference room. When Tsunayoshi, Hayato, Takeshi and Ryohei went to look for them, they were gone. From the moment G had left the conference room and Tsunayoshi with his friends left there… the time for the girls to disappear was exactly fifty minutes."

In first few minutes, Giotto was oblivious of the confused stares that he was receiving… well, until Tsuna decided to speak up.

"Y-you've counted it all… in such a short time?" the brunette boy asked with silent amazement in his voice. Giotto found himself pretty confused with the sudden silence that had covered the room. It wasn't hard for Giotto to count that. While doing paperwork he knew perfectly well how much time passed. Every second, actually… even millisecond.

"Che…" G snorted before Giotto got to reply the question. "It's possible that the two are just playing with their illusions in order to get it back on us because we didn't release them…" he said while annoying expression was taking over his face. There was a high possibility that G was right since he and Lampo first hand experienced the girls' illusions. Not like they managed to escape no matter how much they wanted. With a corner of his eye, he looked at Daemon, suppressing the urge to burst in laugh again.

Lampo luckily, wasn't present… since Tsuna begged Giotto to find someone to take care of Lambo, and well, the first boss of Vongola sent no one else but his Lightning guardian. It turned out to be a pretty good idea. None of the two were causing trouble ever since, but it was also pretty much too early to say. After all, Giotto, his guardian's, Tsuna and Tsuna's guardians were in the dining room only for a few minutes now.

"Daemon investigated that part, G," Giotto explained, gesturing towards his Mist guardian who looked irritated. "This time, no Mist flames were involved… more rather; it was someone who had keys from Alaude's handcuffs…"

That sentence was followed in utter silence from the first generation guardians, who were well aware that only person having keys of Alaude's handcuffs was Alaude himself… unless if he'd lent them to Giotto, but that happened once in a lifetime, so that was a no. Anyone else possessing those keys… it was just too impossible.

Alaude, though, looked rather untouched by the statement… or was that only on the outside.

Tsuna and his guardians, even though they weren't exactly aware of the exact reason why atmosphere tensed up even more in those few seconds of silence, were very aware that someone having keys from Alaude's handcuffs was bad… very bad. And that something had happened to Chrome and Lyn because of that… it was even worse.

Awkward and tensely worried silence was broken when Lampo suddenly burst in the room, yelling "PRIMO!" as he suddenly stopped right before hitting at the table. Tsuna was the only one who actually jumped on his feet, while everyone else was mostly just surprised, though Hibari, Gokudera and Daemon had no reaction.

"You stupid brat, you can't just break in here like that, stupid idiot! We're discussing important stuff!" G snapped, jumping to argue with Lampo straight off.

"As a matter of fact, G…" Lampo replied, trying to keep his tune normal, no matter how upset and in a hurry he was. "This, what I've come to say is probably going to be more important," he announced firmly. G's brow twitched. Tenth generation guardians had only been silently waiting for Lampo to say what he had, while Asari and Knuckle were curiously looking at Lampo, and Giotto had a feeling that it might be a very crucial thing that Lampo had to say, meaning it was probably better to let him speak and then continue with their own discussions of finding two girls.

"You have a word, Lampo," Giotto said carefully, a second before G was about to burst out at the teen. Alaude and Daemon curiously looked at Giotto, annoyed with the fact that Giotto was always there to let the stupid one say whatever he wanted. Alaude was sure that finding the two missing girls would be more crucial at the moment, but knowing his boss…

"The mansion is in uproar, Primo!" Lampo exclaimed. "Main gates are attacked by an unknown enemy! They also have a strong illusionist on their side! Their numbers are enormous!" he explained quickly, having a frightened look on his face.

"Wait, what?" G spat, unable to comprehend everything that the brat said.

"M-mansion… is under attack…?" Tsuna silently repeated, already up for some trembling. _Why now of all times, _he wondered, trying to stay under control.

"By… illusionist… you meant as one illusionist only?" Daemon curiously raised a brow at Lampo.

"You don't mean…?" Asari looked at Daemon, sounding worried. The question he hadn't got to finish was mostly refraining to Lyn and Chrome as possible attackers, but when Lampo gave a shaky nod, confirming Daemon's doubts that it was only one illusionist, it turned off the possibility of Lyn and Chrome.

"Alright… seems we have more than one situation to deal with…" Giotto silently murmured. He needed a good group to counter their attackers, together with an illusionist, meaning it would be best to let his guardians deal with it. "G, Knuckle and Daemon… it would be best if you would go to deal with the attackers. The rest of us will go and look for any clues regarding the girls, is that alright?"

"Yes, Primo," G was already up on his feet, ready to get going. Daemon unwillingly nodded. Knuckle too was up on his feet straight off. They all left, in the meantime passing next to annoyed Hibari. He too wanted to go and bite to death some idiots. As the three first generation guardians left, Giotto stood up. The moment he was up on his feet with serious face on, everyone felt the atmosphere in the room change.

"Lampo, you have your assignment. Make sure to keep Lambo out of trouble," he seriously said. Lampo really wasn't willing to agree with it, but it's not like he ever had choice. Not when Primo was looking like he was about to devour the ones attacking his precious mansion.

"O-okay, Primo…" he muttered silently, taking his leave.

"Alaude, I would like for you to go and find out what you can about our attackers and their objectives, as well as make sure that they don't get what they're looking for," Giotto said, eyeing his Cloud guardian.

"Hn… not like I need you to tell me that," Alaude shortly said, and next second he was gone. Tsuna kept staring at his ancestor giving out orders. He remembered lessons that Reborn had been giving him on how to be a great boss. Now he was sure that he was not fit to be a boss even more.

"As for the rest of us… Asari, you go with Hayato and Yamamoto to look for any clues of might have happened to the girls. Hibari, Tsuna and Ryohei are to come with me and make sure that I'm wrong about one part…" Giotto ordered.

"Tch! I'm not leaving Jyuudaime's side!" Gokudera growled, obviously not liking the plan. Yamamoto too had a look on his face that was saying that he wasn't willing to leave over with Gokudera and Asari only.

"Tsuna…" Yamamoto silently said.

"I-It's alright… Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto," Tsuna silently said, giving a sheepish grin to his Storm and Rain guardians and friends. "L-let's just go and find Chrome and Lyn…" he said.

"If Jyuudaime says so…" Gokudera unwillingly muttered. Yamamoto sighed, giving a slight grin to Tsuna, just not to make him worry.

"See you latter then, Tsuna!" he replied, taking his leave with Gokudera and Asari.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Hibari simply said after noticing a questionable look coming from Giotto.

"H-Hibari-san…" Tsuna silently muttered.

"O-oi, Hibari," Ryohei was the one to start it. "You're not gonna fail us to the extreme are you?" he questionably looked at the tenth generation Cloud guardian. Hibari eyed him with pure annoyance.

"I said something," he simply replied. He would much, much rather be on the main battlefield, as of right away. They could go and look for pineapple-girl and blonde-brat without him, it's not like he even cared.

"A-alright…" Tsuna stuttered. "Let's go… Primo-san… Onii-san… We have to find Chrome and Lyn…" he added quickly.

"Yeah, you're right, Sawada!" Ryohei roared. "Find Lyn and Chrome to the extreme!" he exclaimed, heading off, in the meantime leaving Tsuna to sweat-drop.

"Does he even know where to?" Giotto silently asked Tsuna. When Tsuna shook his head, Giotto reminded himself that it was Knuckle that Ryohei was descendant of. When the young boss remembered Knuckle in his teenage age… well, Ryohei was still okay.

"L-let's go," Giotto said, taking the lead. Tsuna followed wordlessly. He was just so worried that something bad had happened. Actually, he was aware that something bad was going on… after all, even the fact that he was hundreds years in past was pointing it out. Now it sort of made sense that Chrome was there… if it was already the guardians of Vongola and all… but of all people… why Lyn?

Giotto in the meantime had uneasy thoughts of his own. When he was making that mini-schedule where to send who, he wanted for Hibari to go along with him and Tsuna, since like that, in the meantime he could find out some things that were nagging him inside. As if why it was that he could swear that he saw a Dying Will flame on Tsuna's forehead? And how come that Hibari managed to defeat Daemon… but it was more than obvious that his answers weren't about to simply come at him.

Nope, he'll have to try hard to get them.

But first thing's first. Find Chrome and Lyn.

* * *

><p>"Hell. Why of all people did I have to get stuck with you?" G growled at Knuckle and Daemon when they arrived to the front gates of the mansion to take care of the enemies. Lampo wasn't exaggerating. There really was a bunch of strangers attacking Vongola mansion. <em>Why now, of all times?<em> G growled inside.

"Primo's orders, G, Primo's orders," Daemon said carelessly, dodging two attacks coming at him at the same time. It was like dealing with annoying flies, though these ones were at human size, but still as annoying.

"It was a rhetorical question, melon-head!" G snarled at Daemon, in the meantime dodging a kick from one of his enemies. He blocked another kick and then shot at his attacker with his gun mercilessly.

"G, Daemon… you do know what Giotto said about fighting on the battlefield," Knuckle scolded like he was scolding two rather persistent boys, in the meantime he himself knocking out a few of their attackers. If his numbering was correct, there were six of the attackers down, thirty more to go.

"It wasn't me who started it," Daemon simply said. "I only came because I'm interested in who could the strong illusionist be." And he wanted to get rid of the bitter taste of defeat he got from the Hibari brat, though he had to admit, the kid was strong. He had Cloud flames, reminding him of Alaude… but a big change was there. Whatever he used to boost his flames… it was far stronger than Daemon could imagine. The bracelet… it was, if Damon could remember correctly. The bracelet that kid had… Damon could swear that there were words Vongola written on it, unless if his eyes were kidding him.

G shrugged, deciding not to continue the small quarrel. They still had bunch of attackers to deal with, while there was no sign of the illusionist… while in the meantime he was fighting off the small fries. He was actually disappointed. Whoever sent the fools at Vongola guardians… was a fool himself. The weaklings such as normal human could not def… err-, not even harm Vongola guardians.

Knuckle too, soon wrote out their attackers as weak. Whoever was the one to send them was stupid, in Vongola's first Sun guardian's opinion. Normal humans were no match for them. But then again… there was something strange about the attackers. No matter how many times they were knocked out… they would quickly stand up, like zombies. While fighting Vongola guardians… they were strange, unnatural… they were just like… dolls… puppets that had no will on their own.

Or were Knuckle and Daemon just too paranoid?

Either way, something was very wrong.

* * *

><p>Reborn frowned. He was in the Sawada household, looking over the old family pictures, hoping to find something, anything… that can lead him during his investigation… but so far, nothing was useful.<p>

Reason he was even at Sawada household was because he had started doubting that something strange was up. After the thought came to him that Hibari and Lyn probably weren't the only ones that had disappeared and that it might had happened to others, Reborn went straight to Sawada's place.

Reason for that was that he could not, no matter how much he wanted, remember why he ever even went there at first, therefore, now he was trying to find the reason. No matter how insane it sounded, he was sure that the reason was something rather important, or _someone_ important, but even pictures weren't helping, though there were many pictures that looked like there was someone missing, and that was irking Reborn a lot.

Additionally, the more time was passing, better he could remember of Lyn and Hibari. Each time he would re-write their names on the paper, more natural they sounded… familiar… he could even now remember some specific memories of them… like Hibari being the fighting-maniac and Lyn complaining about something…

Even though he could remember all that, none of it was helpful to Reborn.

After his visit to Byakuran who was imprisioned by Vongola after he helped someone, Reborn couldn't remember who though, Byakuran was under twenty-four hour watch. Reborn was sure that the marshmallow freak should be able to tell him _at least_ something useful, but Byakuran proved to be useless, which Reborn had taken to notice, was Byakuran's well developed skill lately.

Little hitman's anger rose. Nothing… literally nothing had helped him. Maybe calling the ninth should be helpful? Or maybe that would just be overreacting? Either way, Reborn was sure that there was something strange and insane going on.

It didn't help when his Leon-phone rang.

"Hello," Reborn shortly said, picking up the phone. Rushed and panicked voices were talking over the phone, and Reborn was slowly processing everything they were saying. It took him a minute or two to figure it all out.

In the end, he sighed, seriously asking "Are you saying that Headquarters have just been attacked by…?"

* * *

><p>"Tch… why off all people I have to end up with two idiots?" the silver-haired Storm guardian complained. He had been running around with Yamamoto and Asari… of all people… trying to find anything that could lead to the brat and Chrome, but in reality, they found nothing even after searching and searching and searching. It was like the two were swallowed by the earth.<p>

In the meantime, while Gokudera was twitching, complaining and overly hissing at the two oblivious Rain guardians, the mentioned duo was simply chatting while running, talking about literally everything… from baseball to flute, from flute to mafia… mafia role-play game… hence Asari came to know that Yamamoto and Gokudera were actually in the mafia, which for the first generation Rain guardian was pretty hard to believe.

Yamamoto though, explained it in his own way, making Gokudera snap even more. Especially that it was late afternoon now, and he hadn't eaten a single thing ever since day earlier. He swore… if he doesn't get something to eat and that soon, his stomach will start blaming it all on Yamamoto… and possibly Asari.

"Though, I don't find that any hard," Yamamoto finished his random sentence, foolish grin playing on his face. Sure, he was focused on looking for anything that could be related to Chrome and Lyn… but why not making friends in the mid-way?

"I see," Asari said, giving the affirmative nod to Yamamoto on whatever the topic they were discussing. It made Gokudera want to puke. Out of all choices… he had to end up with idiots. It was only a moment of luck that Asari had stopped, suspiciously looking around, preparing his sword for a fight.

"Eh? Asari…?" Yamamoto asked, not sure of what was happening.

"Someone strong is near…" Asari said warningly. "Someone very strong… and illusionist, if I may add," he said firmly.

Gokudera and Yamamoto weren't needed to hear more. Gokudera's Vongola buckle of Storm version X was prepared, armed and ready to use, while Yamamoto's Vongola necklace of Rain version X also prepared to take on whatever was thrown at him.

"Kufufufu~"

Asari tensed up, keeping his guard on. His hand clenched around his sword, prepared to attack anytime. In the meantime, Yamamoto and Gokudera were exchanging annoyed, interested, irritated and cheerful (you can guess which was whose) looks. It turned out they were both thinking about the same thing. No, err- person.

"Haven't expected to see you here, Gokudera Hayato, Yamamoto Takeshi… Kufufufu~" a rather familiar voice said from the mist that was thickening around two Rain guardians and one Storm. Asari tensed even more, now carefully looking at Gokudera and Yamamoto, each having different reactions.

"What the hell… are you doing here," Gokudera broke the awkward silence when a silhouette started to appear behind the mist, "Rokudo Mukuro?"

"Are you saying that I can't be here?" Mukuro asked while a lazy smirk was playing on his face. Mist that was covering him, even though he was on the inside of the Vongola mansion, was slowly disappearing.

Seeing appearance of a teen, having blue hair in pineapple-hairstyle, Asari had almost fainted. It was nothing personal, really. He hadn't even taken it in the consideration when he saw the girl, Chrome, since she wasn't exactly the copy and all… but the Rokudo Mukuro guy… Asari shook his head. He was sure of one thing. He did not need a Daemon copy… well, hopefully… cause aura that the teen was emitting reminded Asari so much of his colleague that it was actually barely bearable.

"Maa maa, you guys," Yamamoto said, cheering up the atmosphere as usual. "Weren't we supposed to look for Chrome and Lyn?" he asked. Even behind that smile of Yamamoto's, there was a bit of uneasiness… After all, he had never spoken to Tsuna's second Mist illusionist directly.

Looks he had received from the tenth Storm and Mist guardian weren't exactly intimidating.

* * *

><p>Reborn sighed, repeating the words he was told over the phone. "Are you just saying that the Headquarters were attacked by…?" he pointed the question to his caller.<p>

"Yes, Todd family!" the voice over the phone shouted. Reborn's eyebrows twitched.

"Who are they?" Reborn asked in the end, a minute or so after hearing of the Todd family. He was sure that he had heard of that mafia family before though… just… he couldn't remember when, how or where… or were they such a weak family that he didn't even pay attention to?

"Well, they were just one of the normal and not so standing out families around," the voice over the phone simply explained. "But ever since they got a new boss taking over the last month, things had drastically changed and they rose up to be a really strong mafia family!" voice over the phone kept talking, as if reading the data from the computer, which was also highly possible.

"New boss?" the infant hitman asked curiously. He could remember Todd family now, now when the 'not-so-standing out' part came. The Todd family sent some random idiots to get their hands on Fuuta's ranking book a while ago. But back then… they were a bunch of fools. So what changed now?

"Yes, and I think this may sound familiar to you, but… their boss is…"

If it were possible, Reborn's eyes would've widened in surprise. Out of all people he had heard off ever… that person had never even crossed his mind.

"You're not serious, are you…? Oregano…?" Reborn silently said, his face darkening after the information that he had gotten from CEDEF member. That… made no sense… but in some sort of way… it didn't make sense.

"I am serious, Reborn-san," Oregano replied in formal voice. "The new boss of Todd family is no one else but _Glo Xinia_."

* * *

><p><strong>Apologies for being slower than usual guys Dx And this chapter is a bit shorter than usual... sorry bout that too. I'll make it up soon! :3<strong>


	8. Puppets

"You're not serious, are you…? Oregano…?" Reborn silently said, his face darkening at the information that he had gotten from the CEDEF member. It made no sense, yet it could be true… It was just plain randomness and a mixture of stupid ideas, as well as a pretty amazing imagination. Reborn would be stupid to fall for that so easily. But it was-

"I am serious, Reborn-san," Oregano replied in formal voice. "The new boss of the Todd family is no one else but Glo Xinia. Apparently, he too has memories of what happened in the future, and for the past month and a half he was gathering forces to attack the Vongola family. We have no information of how he became the boss, but as soon as we get that, we'll send it to you."

"I see," Reborn nodded, regardless of knowing that Oregano couldn't see it. "What's the status of the mansion?"

"We have no information about it. Headquarters were cut off from any kind of communication exactly ten minutes ago," Oregano said, swiftly trying to contact the Headquarters once again, but it was a futile attempt.

"And how about Ninth and his guardians?" Reborn questioned. He was turning nervous from all the lack of information. It was making him sick, knowing that there was nothing he could do to help the Ninth.

"We haven't managed to make any contact."

"And Vongola Decimo and his guardians? Any information on them?"

"Reborn-san… they're in Japan…"

"Japan…" Reborn felt some dots connecting in his head. "Sorry, Oregano, I'll call you back latte. Notify me when you get Glo Xinia's whereabouts." He finished the call, letting Leon to turn into his real form. Reborn observed small chameleon that was giving Reborn a smug look.

"What?" Reborn asked, returning the look. "Are you trying to say that all this is somehow related?" Even if Leon hadn't made any reaction, Reborn continued, "So you think that it's the Vongola Decimo and his guardians that we're forgetting about, since they should be here?"

Almost invisible nod from Leon had confirmed Reborn's doubts, and Reborn disliked the idea.

"Apparently, we have to get to know Glo Xinia's whereabouts to get this mess fixed." But Oregano said nothing about the pink-haired idiot's whereabouts… now did she? Well, not like Reborn gave her a chance anyway.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe that they managed to get in this deep!" Giotto stated, hitting off another intruder with his fists. "This makes no sense… weren't G, Knuckle and Daemon there to counter them?" He swiftly dodged a fist coming from another attacker. He, Tsuna and Ryohei ran onto the group of six intruders while heading off to Giotto's 'important place' where he wanted to check on something.<p>

Each of Vongola guardians got to fight off the two, which turned out to be quite difficult. Their attackers were tough, not giving up even after receiving a hard punch. From his concentration to defeat them, Giotto didn't even get a chance to be surprised by flame appearing on his descendant's forehead when they were attacked, nor with flaming fists and strange ring, or whatever it was, that Tsuna had on his wrist.

"Something is wrong," Tsuna concluded, immediately stopping his movements. The last man he had punched with his flaming fist flew off meters away, hitting the wall, but the guy now stood on his feet again, like nothing happened. Tsuna was sure that he had seen it before. And the strange sensation he was having…

"I agree," Giotto said. They were standing next to each other, prepared to counter the attacks. Ryohei roared, agreeing with that as well. His enemies were extremely persistent. Giotto and Tsuna watched as Ryohei, with only one punch managed to send the enemy up in the ceiling. When the guy fell down, they heard a loud cracking sound, indicating that the poor man's spine was probably broken.

Real shock came when the person actually stood up on their feet as if nothing ever happened. Ryohei was about to punch him again, but Tsuna stopped him.

Ryohei blinked, "Sawada?"

"Don't fight back, Onii-san, Primo-san," Tsuna grimaced.

Giotto and Ryohei were at first confused, since the six men had gathered in circle around them, ready to send them to oblivion. They couldn't understand what Tsuna was implying, but Ryohei wasn't going to disagree. He knew well that if Sawada had told him to stop fighting, there had to be a good reason… though he did want to know it straight away. Giotto was thinking in different direction. His brain was telling him to disobey Tsuna, but his intuition told him to listen. Intuition is to be followed then.

Though Giotto won't just wait for Tsuna to tell him why. Just like Ryohei, he wanted answers. "Why not?"

Tsuna didn't answer at first. He looked like he was having an inner battle of should he do something, or not. In the end, apparently 'should' won.

"What is the meaning of this, Mukuro?" Question slipped from Tsuna's mouth.

Giotto confusedly riveted his eyes at Tsuna, who stood there with a poker face on. Intruders around them all stopped moving, having sneer looks on their faces. The one who was standing in the middle had his eye change color from usual green into bloody red one, with Japanese number six in it.

"Kufufufu, Sawada Tsunayoshi… I'm touched. You saw through my masquerade quite fast," the man replied. The hallway of Vongola mansion where they were, erupted in 'kufufufu' laughter coming from all six men.

Giotto's eyebrows twitched. He was just so confused. He recognized the men as Mateo's subordinates by their clothes… the ones who were chasing Knuckle when Tsuna and his friends came in his aid… but Giotto knew of no person working for Mateo that had Japanese name. He sure would've known about it… Alaude would take is seriously and wouldn't let Giotto overlook it… but… why did the guy know Tsuna? How?

"Stop this, Mukuro. If you continue possessing these people they might end up dying!" Tsuna said, clutching his fist. "It's not time to be joking around!"

"Kufufufu… naïve as always I see. And if I were to say that these puppets, or people, as you call them, would come here with objective to infiltrate the mansion with or without my aid, what would you say?" the man smirked.

Tsuna clutched his fists, refusing to believe in words of his second Mist guardian. But he had to admit that he was taken back by the statement at first.

"That would be of no surprise," Giotto was the one to reply. He made Tsuna and Ryohei look at him confused, while Tsuna was silently asking 'what?', and man Mukuro had possessed, looked at Giotto amused. Seeing the looks he was getting, Giotto continued to explain himself. "You have possessed Mateo's men. They were the ones chasing after Knuckle when you first came." The last sentence was there precisely for Tsuna, who nodded in understanding.

"Not as naïve as I thought you would be, Vongola Primo," the man replied, adding the 'kufufufu' once again.

"Do you know who that is?" Giotto asked to Tsuna, who averted his gaze at the smirking man. With a short nod, he confirmed.

"That's Rokudo Mukuro… my Mist guardian. He's possessing the whoever the uniformed guy is."

Giotto stared at Tsuna shortly, before blinking once… then twice. "Mist guardian…?" No. There was no possible way… Tsuna was just a teen. There was no way he could be in the mafia _already_. No. Giotto refused to believe it. Giotto didn't even pay attention to the second sentence. He shook his head in denial, earning confused glances from Ryohei, who was incredibly silent, not understanding what was going on.

Ryohei was sure that the pineapple head was present somewhere around there… but since he couldn't see him, he was extremely unsure of what was going on.

"Perhaps… Sawada Tsunayoshi… you haven't told your ancestor that you are the tenth Vongola boss to be?" Mukuro teased through his puppet's body.

"Y-you… are in the mafia?" Giotto stared at his young descendant in light shock. The flame burning on Tsuna's forehead should've been enough of a proof for Giotto, but he refused to believe that. Tsuna just looked too innocent. "But… wait. _Tenth_ generation boss?"

"Nothing has ever gone the way I wanted it anyway," Tsuna shuddered.

Giotto stared at him. "T-tenth… generation boss…" he silently stuttered, when insecurity hit him. "Of Vongola, right?"

Tsuna gave affirmative nod, looking back at Mukuro's vessel again. "Would you stop possessing these people, Mukuro?" Tsuna gestured towards the six men surrounding him and Giotto.

"Kufufufu~ I may even do that, Sawada Tsunayoshi," Mukuro replied. "After all, I still have fifty three more vessels to play with."

Next second, the red eye turned back to normal green, and all six men crushed down on the ground. "No, Mukuro wait!" Tsuna called out, but it was too late. He groaned. Since when did his second Mist guardian turn so obedient?

Giotto was still stuck in confusion, and light shock from Tsuna-supposed-to-be-mafia-boss deal, while Ryohei…

"What extremely was that?" asked the confused Sun guardian.

"Mukuro chose the wrong time to play pranks on us," Tsuna said, his face darkening. "Anyway, we better find anything about Chrome before he finds out that she's missing. I can't tell what he'll do if he finds out."

"Is that girl, Chrome… somewhat close to him?" Giotto asked, referring to the fact that he just met tenth generation of the Vongola on that day.

"To put it simply," Tsuna started, turning to Giotto, "Chrome is Mukuro's former… err- how should I put this…"

"Just say it," Giotto simply said. Tsuna sighed.

"Vessel… while he was being kept in Vindice's prison, he used her to communicate with us and even fight if needed."

"Yeah… I think I get it…" Giotto quickly nodded at his descendant, though he didn't really understand what was the deal. He felt like he didn't need to know more. The Mukuro guy was scary if he was kept by Vindice. Giotto nodded to himself. Yes… Mukuro was not harmless. Now why Tsuna was still keeping him on his side, that's what Giotto was curious about, but it probably wasn't the time to ask.

"But possessing… what did he say… fifty three people more…" Tsuna silently murmured in his chin. "With these six… wouldn't that be… possessing fifty nine people at the same time?" Tsuna eyed the six people that were lying on the ground, unmoving. He immediately shook his head no. Now that… that would be really bad. He really hoped that Mukuro was just bluffing. Giotto obviously shared his thoughts, although Vongola Primo obviously had no idea what it really meant.

* * *

><p>"The hell, you stupid pineapple!" Gokudera growled at Mukuro once again.<p>

Asari and Yamamoto had smiles playing on their faces.

"Did you just say what I think you said?" Mukuro scowled, dark aura leaving his body.

"Like hell I did, stupid pineapple-head! Do you want me to repeat it!" Gokudera exclaimed, taking out his dynamites, ready to throw them at the Mist illusionist. It was like electricity was sparkling when their eyes met.

"Maa maa, Gokudera, calm down a little," Yamamoto tried to brighten out the atmosphere once again. "Mukuro didn't mean that, right?" Look that Mukuro shot at him made him shut up.

"Shut the hell up, baseball-freak!" Gokudera yelled at Yamamoto. He was just tired from all the idiots that were surrounding his precious Jyuudaime. Did they forget what they were asked to do? Well, with exceptions of Mukuro. Though in Gokudera's opinion, he should join in the search as well. "And you stupid pineapple-head… shouldn't you go look for that woman or something!"

"I don't take orders from you, you stupid octopus-head!" Mukuro roared, but then it occurred to him. "Looking for who?"

"Oh… Chrome and Lyn went missing," Yamamoto quickly explained. Dark aura that was surrounded Mukuro was tightening and getting thicker and thicker. He was pissed beyond what Yamamoto and Gokudera had ever witnessed.

"I wonder…" Mukuro started in dangerously sweet voice, "who dared to lay a finger on Nagi?" He was pissed. Very pissed. And now that he started losing control over his vessels, probably the ones that he sent at Hibari, he was being even more pissed. "Their worst hell is about to come," Mukuro claimed before he disappeared in the mist.

"Isn't it bad now that he left?" Asari broke the silence. "Who knows what he'll do…" he added silently. He just hoped that Mukuro wasn't much like Daemon in personality, cause that… that would be disastrous.

"At least Mukuro's going to help us look for Chrome and Lyn, ne?" Yamamoto put a smiling face on and then chuckled a bit at the thought, putting his hands behind his head. Oh he was so relaxed.

"Stupid pineapple…" Gokudera silently hissed. "Now what are you standing here for, airheads? Jyuudaime gave us a mission to carry out!" he exclaimed, heading for a run towards the conference room.

"But it was Primo who ordered-" Asari started, but he was interrupted when Yamamoto dragged him along to follow Gokudera. Asari sighed. It was probably for the best that way.

* * *

><p>Giotto, Tsuna (back in normal mode) and Ryohei were running the for whole time to nowhere else but… yes, you guessed it right, library. Tsuna and Ryohei couldn't exactly figure out what Giotto was looking for, but they chose not to ask unless if the young boss tells them himself.<p>

It turned out Giotto was only aiming to take a small box, before heading back to Tsuna and Ryohei.

"Let's go now. We should meet with Asari, Takeshi and Hayato at the conference room. They should be there by now," Giotto stated, looking at the two young teens. They both nodded.

Three of them were now running towards the conference room, when something in front of them made them brake like they had crashed into an invisible wall. Sight in front of them was more than… horrifying.

A young man stood there, circled by a group of men lying on the ground in rather bloody mess, filled with injuries. A young man was turned backs towards Giotto, Tsuna and Ryohei, but they didn't need him to turn to know who it was. Arm badge and tonfas dirtied with blood told enough.

"H-Hibari-san…" Tsuna stuttered, making the prefect turn to them. Hibari had an amused expression on his face. Whoever he had beaten, they probably weren't weak at all.

Tsuna flinched back, seeing the look of blood-lust that his Cloud guardian had sent to him. Yes, sure he knew that Hibari loved fighting. Sure Tsuna knew that Hibari was easy to bite people to death… but it's been less that fifteen minutes since Tsuna had seen him last. Defeating around fifteen people, or how many of them was there anyway… it was… in lack of other words, fearsome.

Giotto felt the same way like Tsuna had. He too thought that the sight was horrifying, and that's why he rushed to check if the intruders were still alive. A few apparently weren't, but two of them started getting up on their feet again, just to receive a tonfa in their head before getting a chance to do anything.

"O-oi, Hibari!" Ryohei roared, in shock himself.

"You can't just go and kill people like that!" Giotto said, stunned in a bad way. He approached to the two who got tonfa hitting their heads. Nope, there were no more movements coming from them. Hibari got them.

"It's undisciplined to have a pineapple-head command intruders," Hibari simply stated.

"EH?" Tsuna stared. "S-So, Hibari-san… you knew that it was Mukuro to control these people?" he asked, not sure whether he should scream or just wait for Hibari to finish his sentence. Either of the two were disliked by Vongola Decimo.

"Those who intrude are also undisciplined…" Hibari continued his sentence, glaring at Tsuna like he was the one Hibari was mentioning. "When someone is undisciplined, they should be bitten to death."

"HIIE!" Tsuna shrieked, waving his hands straight off. "I-I get it, I get it, Hibari-san!" Tsuna kept shouting. He had a feeling that Hibari was in the mood to go and bite Tsuna to death as well, and Tsuna hated the idea.

During the conversation that the boss and the guardian were having, Ryohei and Giotto were checking over the defeated group, just to make sure that if there was someone alive, that they'll be aided straight away. So far, they've only found one.

Giotto didn't pay much attention at first, but then it came to him. The one who was actually alive… he was having different uniform than the other ones. He shrieked inside, thinking that it was maybe a Vongola member who stepped on Hibari's way, but luckily, it turned out to also be another intruder.

Giotto stared at the face of the alive yet beaten up person. He couldn't take his eyes off of him.

"Oi, Primo!" Ryohei called, seeing that the blonde stopped moving at all. "Primo!" he roared, making even Tsuna and Hibari to turn and look at what was happening. Giotto quickly shook his head, as if he was trying to clear his mind a little, and then sneezed.

"This… I was afraid this might happen…" he muttered. "We need to get Knuckle here, and that fast. Ryohei, would you mind to go and look for Knuckle?" Giotto sent serious gaze at Vongola's tenth generation Sun guardian.

"Eh?" Ryohei blinked.

"K-Knuckle-san?" Tsuna asked. "P-Primo-san… don't tell me… that was not an intruder?" Tsuna asked, having a horrified look while glancing down at the injured person. Giotto frowned, shaking his head no.

"No," Giotto replied, putting on a poker face. "I think I might know what happened to the girls." His eyes slightly narrowed. "So Ryohei, can you go and bring Knuckle here quickly?" he turned to Ryohei once again.

"I'm extremely on it!" Ryohei roared, running off a few seconds latter.

"H-How do you mean… you might know what happened to Chrome and Lyn…?" Tsuna asked, worried now. He didn't like the sound of words that Primo said. He didn't like that at all.

"We'll discuss that latter," Giotto said firmly. "Now, could you please go and bring Asari and his group here? There's no need to do anything about the girls for now… or in other words, there's nothing we can do."

"A-all right…" Tsuna quickly nodded, unsure of why there was nothing they could do, but deciding not to point it out. He headed over to the conference room, being cautious of not stepping on any single person that was lying on the floor, which wasn't an easy task. He did manage that somehow, in his mind wondering how come that Hibari didn't even get his uniform dirty.

Giotto's eyes narrowed at Vongola's tenth generation Cloud guardian, before he spoke. "You maybe did not do it on purpose, but I'm grateful that you've let this person to live."

"Hn." That was probably the only thing that could be expected from Vongola's Cloud guardian anyway, and Giotto sort of got used to it.

But what Giotto couldn't, and probably never will be able to get used to… is that his descendant seems to have really blood thirsty guardians. Really blood-thirsty ones. Maybe even more than his Alaude and Daemon.

* * *

><p>"OOI, KNUCKLE!" Ryohei roared, storming through who knows which corridor yet again. He could swear that he had run over the half of the mansion in search for the Vongola's first Sun guardian. He continued running around, occasionally yelling 'Knuckle' out of the blue, until he was shut up by no one else but G, who apparently was rather pissed off.<p>

"The hell you stupid squint! Will you stop freaking yelling so much?" G burst out on Ryohei.

"Don't slow me down! I'm extremely looking for Knuckle!" Ryohei roared back. G rolled his eyes, irritated from all the yelling.

"Tch… why do you have to be so loud?" he mumbled, but Ryohei ignored him.

Ryohei found who he was looking for. "Knuckle! Primo is extremely looking for you!" he yelled, seeing gimps of black haired boxer standing alongside Daemon, curiously observing people who they had crushed along with the ground, since Daemon's illusions seemed to have no effect on their attackers.

"Ryohei?" Knuckle turned over to the younger boxer. "Why is Primo looking for me?" he asked.

Ryohei stopped his running and yelling, putting his hand on his chin in order to look like he was thinking hard, which he actually was doing. "I was told what Primo is looking for you for…" he stated absently, "but I extremely forgot!"

Knuckle shook his head. "Oh well…" he sighed. "Take me to Primo then… I wonder what's he up to."

Ryohei took in the notice of what Knuckle said, and headed off running the way he had come from earlier. Knuckle was straight off behind him.

Daemon, curious of what was going on, followed them as well.

G, noting that he was about to; first of all, stay alone; second, he noticed that his boss asked for Knuckle, not G, which meant that something bad happened, he couldn't stay behind. He followed the three as well.

"By the way, Ryohei!" Knuckle called, noticing that they had entered the same hallway for the third time after around five minutes running, "Where did Primo ask you to take me?"

"Uh… Primo said… Primo didn't say anything!" Ryohei exclaimed. Then again, by his logic, it was probably the medical room or whatsoever, since there were plenty of injured people.

Knuckle sighed. "I guess you should follow me then," he replied to Ryohei, taking over the lead. He stormed forward, in foot followed by Ryohei. G and Daemon were slightly slower, doing hard to catch up with two Sun flame users' activity.

They weren't surprised when it turned out that they ended up in the medical rooms. After all, why else would Giotto call for Knuckle so urgently unless someone was hurt?

"Extreme!" Ryohei exclaimed once they were all in the medical rooms.

Knuckle hurried over towards Giotto, while Daemon and G stood on the doorway, dumbfounded. It was surprising how many people was able to stay in that room, starting from Ryohei, Giotto, Knuckle, Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Asari and even Hibari, who had taken a corner for himself to settle in.

"Good that you're here, Knuckle," Giotto said, his face having a bit relieved expression on. "If I'd ask from you to heal him, only, but note, _only_ until it's enough for him to wake up, would you do it?"

Knuckle blinked, staring down at the person who was lying on the bed. He couldn't recognize who it was, but he could definitely recognize the clothes. "Ah," he confirmed. Tensed atmosphere in the room tensed up even more. No one could tell why. Knuckle approached to heal the guy wordlessly.

* * *

><p>There was only one little detail now that Reborn kept missing, and he was fully aware of it. Now what that little detail was, he couldn't remember. He forgot all about it, and it was raging him inside. He knew that Todd family had a building that was used as temporary Headquarters in Japan, and he sent Skull to get rid of it in any possible way, but there was something else that he was missing on.<p>

Maybe something about Hibari and Lyn again? But it didn't make any sense. Infant was pissed beyond belief. Even constant shooting around couldn't help him relax… nor Bianchi's warm ideas… and even Nana's food. None of that worked. Once he finds out why, he was going to make the reason suffer, and that a lot.

But for the time being, he should only concentrate on finding Glo Xinia's whereabouts, or that's what he was telling to himself. After all, it was a serious deal if that guy was planning something. Another problem that Reborn had, though not that he'd ever say it out loud… but whoever was missing… Reborn got used to them. Like really got used to them.

Anyway, he had no time to be bothered with it. Quickly, he took Leon, who in the meantime changed into a phone, and started making another call.

"Hey," Reborn said, realizing that someone had picked up the phone. "I'll need you to drop over to Japan in less than twenty hours. I need explanations." He waited for a few seconds to hear over the reply, then continued, "This is not a matter to be joked with. Gather the others and come to Namimori. You've got twenty hours, no objection."

Reborn sneered, hearing that the called one agreed. "Don't make mistakes in the mid-way. I need everyone you can bring. This time, I think you messed up something."

Not so happy reply greeted back the Sun Arcobaleno, but Reborn ignored it. After all, the plan was set. Now only he needed to count on CEDEF to find where Glo Xinia was, everything else should be easy.

"Oh, and don't forget it, you've got twelve hours."

"WHAT! YOU SAID I HAD TWENTY, KORA!" exclaim came from the other side of the phone. Reborn smirked.

"I changed my mind." He heartlessly finished the call the moment the second person started screaming, yelling and shouting again. It wasn't worth of Reborn losing his hearing. Not worthy at all.

* * *

><p>"Now all we've got to do is wait for him to wake up," Giotto said, nodding to himself and crossing his arms. It was as simple as that. So very simple. But he was impatient so much! And so curious of what happened to the girls-<p>

"Heck! Are we supposed to wait for hours for the scum to wake up?" G grunted, tapping his leg.

After they had brought Knuckle to heal the intruder, Giotto and G took their leave to Giotto's office. Giotto's guardians, along with other members of Vongola, went to clean up the mess after Rokudo Mukuro and his little puppet invasion. The ones who survived were coldheartedly thrown out of the mansion's area, waiting for their boss to pick them up (just later they found out that Mukuro was possessing the boss as well). Mukuro in the meantime appeared, and went off with Tsuna and his guardians to get some rest in the rooms prepared for them. Well, exclude Hibari. He was on the roof. In Giotto's opinion, that guy had a thing for roofs.

Regardless, G and Giotto were in Giotto's office now. Giotto also sent a maid to bring over Tsuna, since he wanted to discuss something with him, and in the mid-way convince G that Tsuna truly is supposed to be a mafia boss, since his right hand and Storm guardian really refused to believe it.

"Anyways," Giotto said, continuing their long forgotten conversation, "All we _can_ do now is wait, G. Kyoya had really beaten that guy well."

"Like I'll ever believe that," G grunted once again, insanely tapping his foot. "Oi, Primo!"

"Yes, G?" Giotto sent a half-hearted gaze at his right-hand-man.

"I just don't get it… how can a single person posses sixty people?" G scoffed. His mind trailed off back to the moment Rokudo Mukuro came, pointing out that he had stopped the invasion on Vongola mansion. Like heck if G would fall for the story. He wanted to squash him right there, but he felt a bit sorry since the Daemon-look-alike looked rather exhausted.

"Fifty nine, G," Giotto corrected.

"Heck… and what about his own body?" G retorted.

Giotto shook his head. "G, his body doesn't count from what he said. So it's fifty nine. And no, I don't know how he can do that, hence, I called Tsuna over here. Tsuna appears to know that pretty well."

"You again with that…" G snorted. "Come on Primo, use your brain. There's no way the kid can be a mafia boss. Just look at how he looks!" he claimed, sure of what he was talking about.

"G, if I were using my brain… I would've died hundred times over," Giotto said simply.

"Not if you ask me!" G blurted out. "Anyways, the kid is the wimp, deal with it! Sure I get it that you like the idea of your descendant being the mafia boss and all, but out of all of them… choosing the weakest?" he averted his eyes. "Exclude the brat," he quickly added, thinking of Lambo. Though even Lambo wasn't that weak. From what Lampo said, the stupid cow-brat kept throwing around _grenades._ G groaned inside. _Okay, maybe they are in mafia…_ he whimpered on the inside.

Giotto victoriously smirked, sensing the change in his Storm guardian. "It's all right, G. The proof is about to come," he added, putting a smug face on.

G moaned in displeasure. He could've just told his boss that he believed that the wimpy brat was a mafia boss, and even if Giotto would know that he's lying, it would be less irritating. Now, Giotto even wanted to prove it no matter what G said or done. _Darn…_

It was only a minute later that Tsuna walked into the office.

"Sit down, Tsuna," Giotto said before the Vongola Decimo even got a chance to close the doors, leaving G to do it with obvious snort of dissatisfaction.

"Y-yes…" Tsuna silently agreed, taking his seat, pretty nervous about it. He couldn't find any reason for his great-great-great grandfather to call him to his office like that, so formally.

"Tsuna, you are aware that there are some questions that I would like to ask you," Giotto stated. He waited for Tsuna to give a quick nod before continuing. "And you are aware that I need you to tell me the truth, am I right?" he asked.

Tsuna once again gave a short nod. He kept wondering why his ancestor was talking to him like he was a five-year old. Oh well, he just had to deal with it for now.

"Tsuna… Is it true that you're about to become the tenth boss of the Vongola family, and that Rokudo Mukuro is your Mist guardian?" Giotto asked. "I need you to say it, not just nod," he added, after he received a half-hearted nod as a response to his question.

Tsuna really didn't want to answer that one truthfully. Especially while having knowledge of the impatient and anticipating Storm guardian in the corner. In the end, he stammered, "Y-yes… it's true."

Giotto, expecting that, only smiled, satisfied with the result. But…

"WHAT?" G bluntly asked, looking at Tsuna as if the teen was insane. Sure, some of the 'descendant' group could be in mafia… that stays… but Tsuna?

Tsuna nervously chuckled. "U-um… that was my reaction too when I first found out about it…" he continued nervously laughing, sounding more like he was being in pain or something like that. G rolled his eyes. Tsuna sighed, deciding to explain it a bit. "B-but, after everything that had happened… I don't know… I had less and less choice about it. Not that I had any choice to begin with…"

Giotto and G only stared at Tsuna, partly feeling the pain in his words. It didn't even matter that Tsuna's sentences didn't make any sense. Just from the sound of his voice they could say that Tsuna was never happy about it.

"Wait… you had no choice?" G raised a brow at Tsuna. Tsuna let out another nervous chuckle.

"Well that would be because of-" Tsuna stopped in the middle of the sentence. Question in his mind appeared. Because of who? Because of what? He couldn't remember how he even got drawn in the whole mafia thing. All he knew was that it was quite painful for him.

"Because of?" Giotto asked, trying to boost Tsuna to continue the sentence, but it was useless, Tsuna kept shaking his head like no.

"Oi, are you alright?" G asked, noticing that Tsuna was now muttering non-understandable stuff that probably made no sense. Tsuna's brown hair was being even messier because of all the head-shaking.

"Tsuna, what's wrong?" Giotto asked, now starting to be worried about it. Tsuna didn't suffer from any kind of trauma because of mafia… right? His intuition told him that it was something else, but Giotto had no slightest idea of what it could be. Whatever it was, it sure bugged Tsuna.

"Oi!" G snapped, grabbing Tsuna's shoulders and shaking him. "Pull yourself together, brat! What the hell is wrong with you?" he snapped.

Tsuna stopped shaking his head, staring at G in surprise. He took a few seconds of dead silence to clear his mind and then speak. "I… I can't remember." His voice was so weak that G and Giotto struggled to hear what he was saying. "I-I can't remember!" Tsuna pointed out again. "I… I can remember my guardians… and everyone here… I can remember it all! B-but… I can't remember anyone else!" he cried.

For Giotto and G it was enough to see the look that Tsuna was giving them to know that even Tsuna was horrified from the idea. They themselves found it too strange.

"Appears that you're not the only one then, Sawada Tsunayoshi," serious voice came from the direction of the doors. Everyone turned their heads to look at who it was, but saw only wall and doors. There was no one there. Or so it seemed.

"I also forgot…" the voice said. From the wall, the illusionist slowly started revealing himself.

"The hell, what are you doing here?" G was the first to snap back together. "How did you even get here?" he shouted at no one else but Rokudo Mukuro, who was frowning.

"It's not my fault that you were paying no attention to me," Mukuro simply said.

"But eavesdropping other peoples' conversation isn't exactly a polite thing to do," Giotto pointed out, on which Mukuro 'kufufufu-ed'.

"I was never polite to begin with," the illusionist replied. "But I couldn't remain silent to what Sawada Tsunayoshi said. First I thought it was because I was tired… but it appears, from the conversation of other Tsunayoshi's guardians as well, that no one actually remembers anyone else from our time."

"Add that to the disappearance of those two illusionist girls… it can't be a coincidence," G pointed out, and his boss quickly agreed with it. Tsuna was just too surprised to even think right about it.

"Whoa, wait a second!" G suddenly exclaimed, dragging all attention to himself. "If this guy is your Mist guardian, and the other four," G said, referring to Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei and Hibari, "wouldn't that mean that one of the girls isn't a guardian, just like the brat?"

Silence once again covered the office, as Tsuna and Mukuro kept exchanging something that seemed to be a conversational looks in form of 'you tell him' and 'no, you tell him'. Either way, of course it was Tsuna who had to explain it.

"U-um… about that…" he started nervously. "Actually, only Lyn is not a guardian…" Tsuna pointed out. Giotto and G glared at him, confused.

"Only Lyn?" Giotto repeated, suspicious about it. He knew Tsuna wasn't lying, but… "wouldn't that mean that you have seven guardians instead of six?" Vongola Primo asked.

"Well… yes…" Tsuna nodded bluntly. Not to keep the confusion around, he quickly explained it. "Lambo is the Lightning guardian… Chrome is my second Mist guardian…"

Giotto and G would ask a bunch of questions at the same time like how can Tsuna have two Mist guardians, that a maid didn't suddenly break in his office, yelling "Primo!"

Giotto quickly recognized the maid as the one he had asked to watch over their little enemy-spy-guest, and come and tell Giotto when the mentioned one wakes up.

"Clara?" he questionably looked at the woman, but she quickly shook her head as in 'no time to explain', but then again, she did speak up a second after the four males were a foot behind her, panicked.

"Master Knuckle told me to urgently call you." That was the only thing she said, because next second, there was no need to talk again. They were at medical rooms. Giotto and Tsuna let out a gasp, seeing that Knuckle was healing that guy again. And the entire room was a mess…

"Knuckle, what in the world happened here?" Giotto asked, still unable to comprehend it all. He rushed up towards the patient, who was now having additional injuries to the ones that Hibari made him.

"He woke up and tried to break out," Knuckle simply said. "I had to extremely knock him out so that he wouldn't escape."

Giotto quickly nodded in understanding. That's probably the reason why the room looked like there were some grenades thrown around.

"Make sure that he doesn't escape after you heal him," Giotto said, his eyes turning very serious. "We can't let our _only_ lead to Chrome and Lyn just yet…" he silently eyed Tsuna and Mukuro with pity in his eyes, finishing his sentence with a silent "Nor we can ignore that this all could maybe even be connected."

Giotto was totally oblivious of the look that his right-hand was sending at him.

* * *

><p><strong>Apologies for spellinggrammar mistakes. English is not my first language, guys!**


	9. Torture on sight

"Nothing yet?" Yamamoto asked once Tsuna entered the room.

"Nothing," Tsuna silently confirmed, throwing himself on the bed.

Yamamoto and Gokudera worriedly got closer. Tsuna looked exhausted and pale, which wasn't really confusing if they take a note that Tsuna was, along with Giotto and Knuckle, waiting for their 'guest' to wake up, but he apparently didn't, so Giotto sent Tsuna to rest. Yamamoto looked through the window, noticing that it was night already.

"How about we get some sleep then?" Yamamoto suggested. "Sure the others will come to give us a notice if anything happens," he grinned at his two buddies. Ryohei was in the meantime already asleep on a couch next to the windowless wall.

"Sounds good," Tsuna said in weak and exhausted voice, turning his back to his friends. Yamamoto and Gokudera observed him, confused and worried, just to find that in the next second, Tsuna was already asleep.

"Don't you think that Tsuna seemed…?" Yamamoto moved away to the armchair, comfortably setting himself there and crossing his arms. He couldn't find the right word to finish his sentence. Gokudera sat across him, also not in a very nice mood.

"Jyuudaime is exhausted," the Storm guardian stated flatly. But even he felt that there was something else wrong as well. It didn't make sense for Tsuna to be so pale.

"You are too… you guys haven't slept in what… more than twenty-four hours? Yet you don't look as pale as Tsuna is…" Yamamoto carefully said. But then again, maybe it was because of the change of space or homesickness? After all, Gokudera lived in Italy before, and even Yamamoto felt exhausted and all… That was making no sense in Yamamoto's head.

"Jyuudaime did amazing stuff today!" Gokudera claimed. "It's no wonder that Jyuudaime is exhausted! Now I'm off to sleep as well, baseball-freak! Do not disturb me!" he snorted.

Just when Yamamoto was about to ask him if he's going to his room, Gokudera closed his eyes, falling asleep in the armchair within a minute. The Vongola's tenth generation Rain guardian only sighed. Now when he came to think about it, Gokudera too looked like he's been through hell. And Ryohei… and Yamamoto felt the same way. It's not bad to get some sleep now, is it?

* * *

><p>Smirks were hard to abandon Reborn's face. Now, regardless of the fact that it was middle of the night, or better say, four in the morning, meaning early morning, he was headed over to clear up the mystery. He had enough of the knowledge that he was forgetting something. He couldn't wait for the others to arrive either, that's how impatient he was.<p>

After Lal and Oregano gave him a call, giving him the location of Glo Xinia, Reborn was concentrated only on heading there to take care of the eye-twitching bastard. He was quite entertained with the fact that Glo Xinia's whereabouts were actually in Japan. Moreover, his whereabouts were actually in Namimori! Near Namimori shrine, to be precise.

Reborn never planned to take care of it all by himself. He actually wanted someone else to do it, but since he still couldn't get in contact with Ninth, he wasn't planning to stay silent to the situation. Breaking into Glo Xinia's hideout was the best way to confirm it.

Security lasers tried slicing him when he broke into the hideout, but of course those little shrimps could do nothing to Reborn with it. He continued towards the only place that actually looked like it was important and got inside. Smirks faded from his face the moment he countered a man lying on the couch, coughing out blood like insane. He let out something looking like a laugh, choking laugh and coughed out more blood.

"I've been expecting you… Arcobaleno Reborn…" the man silently spoke.

Reborn's fedora hid his eyes. "Meaning that you also know why I'm here. So how about shortening this whole thing and you just tell me where Glo Xinia is."

Another choked laugh came and the person replied, "Boss left… to watch Vongola being crushed!" He started laughing yet again.

Reborn wasn't happy at all. A second later, he was standing on the armrest of the couch, pointing his Leon gun at the guy's head. "Then how about you give me some information about Vongola Decimo and his guardians? What happened to them?"

"And you little one -_cough_- think that I'll answer that?"

"I think it would be better for you to answer," Reborn said, his face still hidden in shadow by his fedora. It wasn't entertaining at all. Leon-gun in his hand turned into a small pocket-knife. He jumped over to the man's stomach, since that guy seemed to be no able to move around much. "Once again, I'm asking. What happened to Vongola Decimo and his guardians?"

"Not telling!" the man yelled, bursting into laugh a second latter. It was no longer than a minute that his laugh turned into painful screams.

"Answer the question," Reborn said.

Man gasped for air, in the meantime laughing like insane again. His laugh once again was stopped by his screaming. When he stopped screaming, his laugh stopped as well. All that could be heard was blood that was dripping on the floor and gasps the man released.

"Do I need to ask again?" Reborn questioned.

"I-I'm a dead man anyway! I overworked it! The reason I didn't leave with boss is precisely because I'm already dying! So why the hell would I ever answer your questions?" Man once again gasper for air before letting out another scream.

"If you think that I'll let my only source of information die, you're terribly mistaken," Reborn retorted. "I'll just make you spit it all out."

The man was now truly regretting his words. He heard about the world's greatest hitman, Reborn. He heard how scary he was, regardless of being in baby form. He promised to himself that he'll never ever confront that hitman, no matter what. Everything seemed to go against him. He gasped in pain again, but kept himself from screaming when he felt blade slicing into his skin.

"Decided to talk yet?" Reborn questioned. After the man gave a quick nod, Reborn asked once again, "So, tell me. What happened to Vongola Decimo and his guardians?"

"T-they are in past…" the man whispered.

"Details about that?" Reborn asked. "Why don't I know who they are?" He decided not to mention that he knows of Hibari… after all, it could be a crucial thing.

The man started laughing again. "It means it worked! It worked! Decimo and his guardians are in past long before their time! They will never, never ever come back!" He gasped in pain once again when he felt a blade slicing his skin again.

"Explain."

Short word was enough for the man to tremble. Chills were going down his spine. He waited a little for his body to calm down before speaking. "We have erased their existence. It is understandable that you still have knowledge of them existing somewhere, even though you -_cough_- can't remember… but after forty-eight hours, no one will know anything regarding of them. Vongola Decimo and his guardians… it'll be as if they never existed! Nothing shall be known!"

Reborn frowned. Wasn't it already like that? Wasn't he the only one actually aware that Decimo and his guardians existed? Or maybe… someone else also knows?

"Tell me how to get them back," Reborn hissed.

The man started laughing hysterically. "You can never do that, Arcobaleno!" He kept laughing. "Unless if you want to destroy the time itself!"

Before Reborn got to do anything, there was a short flash of light, sound of a gunshot and then sound of the gun falling on the ground. Reborn stepped back from the person lying on that couch. He frowned. He got no crucial information and his only source decided to kill himself by shooting himself in the head before he could do anything. Reborn sighed. Whatever those people were putting up… it apparently was way more complex than a simple war against the Vongola family.

* * *

><p>Giotto sighed, crossing his hands. He had bags under his eyes. After everything that had happened in the mansion ever since the kids from the future came, all that was left behind was now a group that was resting, one injured intruder, and lots of paperwork. Giotto didn't' even get a chance to sleep. From all the papers he was left to go through, now was only left a small pile of around twenty papers. It wasn't exactly helpful once Giotto realized that it was already morning.<p>

"Why don't you go get some sleep, Giotto?" Asari asked a second after he entered Giotto's office. "Everyone else are resting. You should too. We both know that those papers weren't very urgent to be taken care of."

"I know, Asari." Giotto softly smiled at his Rain guardian. "I just didn't want to be bugged with it later, since apparently, the mess has just started. Something tells me that things are about to get far worse."

"Your intuition?" Asari asked, putting on a worried face.

Giotto chuckled. "Gut feeling this time. I sure hope it's a wrong one, but then again… my intuition seems to agree with it."

"You're making it sound really bad, Giotto." Asari's face turned more serious than usual. "Anyways, Knuckle sent me to tell you that your guest is awake."

Giotto jumped on his feet. "Why didn't you tell me that right away?"

"It's all right, Giotto. Knuckle immobilized him with Alaude's handcuffs. There's no way the guy can move, especially not escape." Asari simply said.

"Oh…" Giotto nodded. He headed out of the office towards the medical rooms, followed by Asari in foot. "Wait, Alaude?" he then asked. "Wasn't Alaude gathering information on the attackers?" he confusedly glanced at his Rain guardian.

"He returned two hours ago," Asari replied.

"Oh…" Giotto nodded. They continued going towards the medical rooms. Whole time during their little walk, Giotto couldn't get it out of his mind that just as he didn't sleep, Asari didn't sleep either.

"Is he saying anything useful?" Giotto asked, walking into the room where their 'prisoner' was. He almost choked on nothing in particular after he saw that the man was cuffed completely. Much like Chrome and Lyn earlier, if not worse.

"Nah… I think we'll have to call Alaude for help this time," Knuckle replied.

Giotto exhaled. He observed the man with sadness in his eyes. "You know, it would be better if you tell us what we want to know. You don't want Alaude to start asking questions."

Man blinked and shook his head no. No… he did not want _Alaude _of all people to come and interrogate him. Anyone else but Alaude! He heard that that guy can even get information from the dead people! Oh he felt dead now. As much as he didn't want for Alaude to come, that much he didn't want to tell anything to Giotto and Knuckle. He didn't want to end up dead yet.

"Alright," Giotto said. "Asari, go bring Alaude… Our guest doesn't seem to be willing to talk. As for you, Knuckle… move our guest to Alaude's interrogation room. You know well how Alaude hates interrogating people anywhere else."

"Sure, Giotto." Both men marched out, Knuckle in the meantime dragging along the bed, which their prisoner was cuffed for. When Giotto was left alone in the room, he laid on one of the free beds. The weight of his shadow was enough to drag him down.

"I guess it's not as bad if I take a nap…" he whispered, falling asleep within a minute.

After something that only seemed like a minute only for Giotto, his eyes snapped opened after he heard a loud, cracking sound. He whistled, finding himself eye in eye with G. "G, do you have any idea of how much you scared me?"

"I'd prefer the word terrified," G grimaced. "Get on your feet now, Primo. Alaude has gotten the information a whole hour ago."

"A whole hour?" Giotto repeated, tottering out of the bed. Was he really sleeping for more than an hour? One look through the window told him enough. It was something around eleven o'clock. It wasn't just an hour… those were hours!

Anyways, Giotto followed G to the dining room where G said that Alaude was. Giotto sure was hoping that his Cloud guardian was able to extract useful information. But knowing Alaude, he certainly did.

Giotto entered the kitchen and took the seat by the table. "Anything useful in finding the girls, Alaude?" he asked. Smirk on Cloud guardian's face told more than needed.

"Apparently, your dear uncle seems to have a grudge on you," Alaude said, smirk never leaving his face. "While we were dealing with the intruder issue, his spies managed to break in the mansion. They think that because the girls were captured, that they had crucial information about the Vongola, and once the girls refused saying anything, the spies decided to take the girls with them and get the information them wanted in my way."

Atmosphere tensed. From what they knew, the girls were from the future. They could know more than even Giotto did. That kind of information source in his Uncle's hands… he couldn't even imagine what could happen. Asari and G, who were also present, thought the same way Primo did. And for the Alaude's way of dragging out information, Giotto gulped, hoping that it was unnoticeable. He was now worried if the girls were still alive.

"I guess that we can tell Tsuna that we found his friends now…" Giotto said after he regained his composure. That didn't change the dark and tensed atmosphere at all.

"The hell, this is bad!" G exclaimed. "They even managed to get in without us finding out about it! If those two brats say a single word-"

"G," Giotto calmly put his hands on the table. "We'll just have to make sure that we save the girls before they get to find out anything."

"Unless if they already did…" G silently hissed.

"Come with me, G." Giotto stood up, taking the lead. G mechanically followed, no matter what it was. Asari and Alaude stayed behind, both curiously observing what was their boss up to, neither one of them interested to say it out loud.

"Hey, Primo, where are we going?" G asked after they walked over the whole ground floor and headed upstairs.

"To let Tsuna and his friends know where their friends are," Giotto said as they were already reaching the third floor.

"Wha-? Wait, Primo! Aren't you getting attached to the kid a bit too much? These are highly confidential information!" G rumbled down the corridors in order to keep in track with his boss. He didn't like the way his boss was treating the kid from the future. "Who can assure you that what they're saying is true?"

"They're not lying, G." Giotto stopped walking, reaching the doors. "Sure, I have no proof yet to claim otherwise, but if he's a boss, he should have this, am I correct?" With a short movement, he showed G his Vongola ring.

"Y-yeah…" G agreed. Well, that was true either way he looked at it.

Giotto, noticing that G was less doubtful now, opened the doors. He flicked an eyebrow at the sight. On the bed, Tsuna was sleeping, quite pale in face. In each of two armchairs, in between being a small coffee table, Yamamoto and Gokudera were sleeping, both pale as well, while on the sofa next to the wall was Ryohei, also asleep.

Giotto sighed. He couldn't bring himself to wake them up, but it's not like he had a choice. He approached Tsuna, shaking him up a little. When the boy gave no reaction, he tried again, shaking him a big stronger. Again, nothing. G, standing in the doorway, started to get irritated by that.

"Let me," he hissed. He shook Tsuna pretty strong, and Tsuna only blinked shortly.

"Five more minutes…" he mumbled.

Giotto blinked.

G blinked. "NO FIVE MORE MINUTES!" he snapped a second later. It wasn't Tsuna the only one who jumped on G's shouting. Within a second, Yamamoto, Gokudera and Ryohei were also awakening.

"Who the hell can yell so hard so early in the morning…?" Gokudera mumbled.

"It was extreme yelling." Ryohei yawned.

"Oh well, it's time to get up anyway!" Yamamoto brightened up the atmosphere.

"What's wrong… G-san, Primo-san?" Tsuna rubbed his eyes, releasing his shoulders from G's grip. He let out a yawn, listening to what Giotto was about to say.

"We know where Chrome and Lyn are," Giotto said. Everyone in the room sharpened.

"Eh? Isn't that great? Now we can go get them back." Yamamoto grinned. His energy was restored already.

"Ye-yeah," Tsuna quickly agreed with a nod.

"I think it won't be that simple," Giotto said, shaking up their hopes. "They're in hands of people who… are taking them as a great tool for gathering information. Regardless of anything, we'll need to be careful."

"We have to save Chrome and Lyn… from whoever that is…" Tsuna felt like maybe whimpering was a good idea, but kept himself from it.

"I'm with you, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera exclaimed.

"Haha, when are we going then?" Yamamoto asked, ready to go right away if needed.

"Save to the extreme!" Ryohei shouted, up on his feet.

Giotto and G were silently watching the energetic reaction of the tenth generation. The mood was restored within a minute.

"We have to go and tell Mukuro and Hibari-san too… maybe they'd like to come as well," Tsuna added, also getting up on his feet.

Giotto agreed with his descendant. As Tsuna and Gokudera went to get Mukuro, Yamamoto and Ryohei left to get Hibari to come as well. Giotto and G stayed behind, heading over to Giotto's office. He wanted to asked Tsuna about the Vongola ring, but that probably wasn't the right time. He'll get another chance soon, or so he hoped.

"G, if I'd ask from you to go with Tsuna and his friends as support, would you do it?" Giotto cocked his head slightly to one side.

"Who are you taking me for?" G smuggled a smile.

Giotto sighed. "You're my right hand, G," he simply said. "I'm counting on you."

* * *

><p>Chrome's eye snapped open. It was dark all around her, the only light coming from the small window with lattices above her head. Her arms and legs were red on places where Alaude's handcuffs were tightly gripping her before, even though that apparently hours passed from the time they were taken off. She also had a few more scratches that she didn't know where she got. Chrome grimaced, disliking that she couldn't remember what happened to her. She wasn't happy to face the fact that she had no idea where she was or how she got there.<p>

"Chrome-san?" weak voice broke the silence.

Chrome quickly turned around, just to see Lyn there, leaned on the wall of the room they were in. She stopped herself from releasing a horrified scream.

Lyn was covered in scratches and she had a bruise on her cheek. Her hair was in mess and her school uniform had many cuts and holes and it was dirtied with Lyn's blood. She seemed to be beaten up pretty bad, but yet, she was smiling at Chrome. Under the weak moonlight that was infiltrating the room they were in, scene was indescribable for Chrome. Her hands were covering her mouth in order to stop herself from shouting.

"Don't worry, you're not better either," Lyn chuckled in weak voice.

Chrome quickly looked down at herself. Even though she couldn't feel pain, she was also covered in wounds, scratches, bruises, and her Kokuyo uniform was in similar state like Lyn's Namimori middle one. Warm liquid was going down her cheek up from her eyebrow, and Chrome was horrified seeing that her eyebrow was bleeding.

"W-what happened to us… Lyn-chan?" Chrome asked in weak voice. She wiped the blood, with her sleeve, looking at Lyn.

"They were probably torturing us for who knows what and now-" Lyn rolled her eyes and grimaced. "Chrome, do you feel any pain?" she asked.

"N-no."

"Me either," Lyn frowned. "Oh well, as I was saying, they were torturing us, and for the torture to have better effect, they gave us something so that we wouldn't feel any pain. Explains everything, right?"

Chrome was silent for a minute or two, and then she nodded. "But who…?"

"Um… I'm guessing Daemon," Lyn plucked her sleeve, approaching to Chrome and quickly wrapping it around her elbow. Chrome's mouth hung opened. She didn't even notice that she had a cut there. "It was bleeding pretty bad," Lyn explained with a cheesy grin. "Anyway, as I was saying, I think Daemon found out about our little joke and got mad. Though I still don't know… I can't remember anything."

"I don't think Daemon did this…" Chrome murmured.

Lyn shrugged. "As I said, I don't know. I honestly hope it was him… because if it's Daemon, we can call G for help," she grinned.

Chrome squinted, trying to make herself sure that Lyn was actually _grinning_. Chrome couldn't imagine G coming to their aid, but that was less important in that moment. Chrome was sure that whoever did that to them, it was not Daemon.

"Hey, Chrome-san," Lyn called, now approaching the door of the room they were in.

"Yes?"

"Want to help me out a little?" Lyn asked with a cheesy grin playing on her face again.

"Help with what, Lyn-chan?" Chrome asked, approaching her. They tried opening the doors, but the doors were locked.

"They'll have to open this door once, won't they?" Lyn asked, giving up on trying to open them. "How about we make an escape plan?" Lyn leaned her back on the doors and slid down them.

Chrome blinked once… twice. Was her hearing alright? She could swear that she head heard Lyn saying 'escape plan'. But in their condition… "E-escape plan?"

* * *

><p><strong>Another short chapter, sorry! But yeah, I did update quickly -grins- Anyway, that's all for now. Next update coming ASAP!<strong>

**P.S. I'm starting to have a feeling that I'll have to change ratings after this chapter... I'm staring to get too many ideas filled with blood, torture and stuff... please bear with me Q_Q**


	10. Maybe

**I'm SOO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG! I was just so busy with school... and next week is even worse Dx Anyways, that's why I made this chapter so much longer than my usual! I hope you'll like it!**

**Once again, I'm sorry for not updating for so long (for me long o.O)!**

* * *

><p>The carriage was riding over the bumpy dirt road, leaving loads of dust behind. It was an enormous carriage, capable of probably letting around fifteen people to stay in it, which was acceptable, considering that it had a Vongola crest on the sides. Four big and strong horses were pulling the carriage in great speed. For the seven people inside of it, it didn't matter that carriage kept coming onto holes and bumps in the road. Their minds were set on important stuff, such as saving their friends from the hands of bad guys. Well, maybe not everyone's minds, but yeah, most of theirs.<p>

Excuse the fact that Daemon and Gokudera kept shouting each time the carriage ran onto bumps, everyone else were discussing on what had to be done and who the enemy was. Well, excuse Hibari on that part. He had found himself a nice spot on the whole last part of the carriage. Even the bumpy road didn't dare to disturb his nap very much. He was the eighth passenger on the carriage.

The one who was riding the carriage could be considered the ninth person on it. He just sighed when even he felt the tension that was rising from the inside of the carriage when they went over another bigger bump.

"Oh this went over the line! Can't you ride this thing better, unless you want to lose your job?" Daemon lazily hissed at the guy riding the carriage. The mentioned one only swallowed hard, hoping that the Vongola guardian really wasn't up to firing him.

"Che… who the hell are you to fire anyone? It's up to Primo to fire or give a damn job to someone, not yours!" G put a cigar in his mouth to help him relax. He was angry enough that he had to take a ride with a bunch of teens that he couldn't trust. Having a big lousy Daemon around wasn't helpful.

"I wasn't asking you anything, _G_," Daemon blurted out. "And don't involve _Primo_ in this conversation! It is his fault for all this. His naïve head sent us to this suicide mission." He felt almost the same way as G did. Not that Daemon was willing to take care of the rather annoying red-haired octopus head, expression that he picked up from the small afro-brat back at the mansion. It didn't sound very original to Daemon, since the octopus head turned out to be the Gokudera kid, but it was useful.

"You're the one who mentioned the Primo in the first place! And stop ranting on Primo! It's his kind nature that brought us where we are now! Keep your lips sealed or I'll fill you with bullets! It doesn't matter that Primo trusts you; I don't!" G blurted out, silently growling from depths of his throat behind his cigar.

"Oh really? Why am I not surprised, almighty G," Daemon sweetly said. When their eyes met, sparks burst out. Fact that they were sitting right across each other wasn't helping either.

Tsuna pushed himself in the corner, as far as he possibly could to get away from the hostile feeling that the two first generation Vongola guardians were giving out. His eyes blankly observed how the two started fighting over every single thing they could think of, and sweat started going down his forehead. It was just a matter of time when they will start fighting again, really fighting, and Tsuna didn't want to be there when it happens.

_How did I get myself into this mess?_ Tsuna wondered after Gokudera too joined the fight once Tsuna's name was taken in the mouth of the two already fighting guardians. He groaned silently, hoping that they'll arrive to their destination soon. He was sure that the carriage wouldn't be able to stand for much longer if G and Daemon started _seriously_ fighting. And with Gokudera in fight along with them… Tsuna shivered at the lone thought of Gokudera's dynamites exploding. That would be really bad.

"Kufufufu~ seems that once again, you've got yourself a handful, Sawada Tsunayoshi," Mukuro, who was sitting across Tsuna, giggled. After all, the fight between two Storm guardians and one Mist continued, now involving practically everyone present. Mukuro's eyes twitched once Daemon mentioned a 'pineapple-head cannot be my descendant'. Not that Mukuro wanted to have anything to do with Daemon… but being called a pineapple-head by a melon head that once possessed his body, Mukuro couldn't remain ignorant.

In swift move, his trident was out, stabbing in the wall of the carriage. It made a small, very small scratch on Daemon's neck, while the hilt was only an inch away from Yamamoto's nose. "I would like to hear," Mukuro started, as sweet as he possibly could, "you say that again."

"Ha, you better watch your mouth, melon-head!" Gokudera and G scoffed at the same time. Coming to realize that they said the same words at the same time…

"Don't imitate me you octopus head!" they yelled at each other in full voice. Two two started arguing between themselves, making Tsuna to let sweat form on his forehead once again.

Tsuna seriously hoped that there'll be something happening to make them all calm down. He didn't want Gokudera to continue arguing with G… nor did he want Mukuro to cut off Daemon's head. But even when he screeched at them to stop, effect was minimal.

"Maa maa, Gokudera, Mukuro," Yamamoto awkwardly grinned, moving his head away from Mukuro's trident. "There's no need to fight now. Aren't we supposed to make a plan to rescue Chrome and Lyn?"

Tsuna sagged in relief when he noticed that Mukuro pulled away his trident. Daemon gasped for a second, as silent as he could. That was the second time someone of the tenth generation had tried to kill him, and he wasn't liking it. He stumbled back in his seat, silently swearing that he'll take his revenge.

"Finally to hear you say something smart, Yamamoto Takeshi," Mukuro commented, getting his trident away. "Yes, a plan to save Nagi is what we do need at the moment." He set back down on his seat, amusedly looking at Tsuna.

Tsuna didn't like the look he was receiving, but he liked even less when Gokudera and G together burst out on Yamamoto, who kept waving his hands and telling them to calm down. When that didn't work… Ryohei tried to extremely calm them down, suggesting an extreme race, though idea was immediately rejected. Tsuna realized that if he doesn't do something… Hibari is going to get tired from all the noise, and then they'll all be bitten to death. Actually, it was a surprise that the prefect didn't kill them already. Tsuna didn't want to test his luck anymore.

Quickly shaking his head, Tsuna figured that it would be better to just try to calm Gokudera down. If that works, G shouldn't have anyone to fight with. Well, for a while, that is.

"G-Gokudera-kun…" brunette murmured, trying to find the words to calm him Storm guardian down. "I-it's really not the time to be fighting… Gokudera-kun…" huge drops of sweat were slowly sliding down the side of his face, expecting for Gokudera and G to snap at him every second.

"Che… If Jyuudaime commands so…" Gokudera unwillingly muttered, sitting back to his seat. He wasn't going to disobey his boss's order. He can teach a lesson to the pink-head latter. Though that didn't stop him from crossing his arms in irritation when the first Storm guardian scoffed. Luckily Ryohei sat between them to make sure that the two don't start a fight again.

Tsuna once again sagged in relief, relaxing on his seat. Situation in the carriage was once again peaceful, though filled with silent rage coming mostly from Daemon and Mukuro, who were glaring at each other tensely. Trying to ignore them, Tsuna turned to G.

"U-um… G-san… where exactly are we going?" Receiving a glare from G made him almost squeak, but Tsuna resisted the urge. The answer to that question was actually rather important, at least in Tsuna's opinion, since he couldn't exactly remember how he ended up in the carriage anyway. He was so sleepy, and the only thing he does remember is that he asked from his friends to go and look for Hibari and Mukuro and call them to help in search for Chrome and Lyn. That part was successful. Both agreed to come easily. Mukuro, because he wanted Nagi safe. Hibari, because he needed to bite some idiots to death. As simple as that.

"Paolo's place…" G said darkly. Everyone could feel that G said it pretty unwillingly. Tsuna, not wanting to get into any bigger mess because he was already in one big enough, only nodded.

"Eh? Who is that Paolo guy?" Yamamoto asked, tickling everyone's curiosity.

"Yes, I myself am very interested to hear that too," Mukuro added, speaking for the rest of the people inside the carriage, excluding Daemon, who only snarled in response instead of G.

"Paolo… Primo's uncle."

There was that strange, forced silence for a second, and then… "WHAT?"

"What he said, you dumb idiots. If you can't understand that, I wonder how you even survived this long," G snorted, mockingly playing with his cigar while narrowing his eyes at Tsuna.

"Oi, don't call Jyuudaime stupid!" Gokudera growled back right away. He and G would've start fighting again that Tsuna didn't grab Gokudera's shoulder, asking him to calm down. Luckily, Gokudera is very faithful to Tsuna.

"Che… stupid brats…" G rolled his eyes. "Anyways, don't ask too much questions. We won't answer."

"I extremely don't get this," Ryohei pointed out.

"It's because you're a lawn-head, that's why!" Gokudera hissed.

"You want a fight, octopus-head?" Ryohei roared at the silverette.

"O-Onii-san… Gokudera-kun…" Tsuna silently called, but the two were too much in their bickering to notice it.

Poor carriage driver had the worst position, however. When Hibari came asking him how close to their destination they were, it was the trigger. Poor man knew no Japanese, so he couldn't figure out what the Vongola's tenth generation Cloud guardian was saying, which ended up with Hibari returning to his old place in a really bad mood. Poor man was left with horrible pain in his stomach, wondering why he ever signed up for that job. And when out of the blue, the group in the carriage started yelling and shouting and roaring again, he couldn't get to surpass his frustration. He opened up the small window that was separating him from the group, his face turning totally flat.

"YOU'RE. TOO. DAMN. NOISY!"

* * *

><p>When the carriage finally stopped near something that seemed to be a big forest, in behind of which there was a place rising, almost as big as Vongola mansion, everyone had to leave the carriage. Everyone were too silent for their usual selves. They didn't even get to work on their plan of saving Chrome and Lyn because of the poor coachman, riding the carriage had lost his cool. They were never silent for such a long time. Even G and Daemon, who were hardly able to stay in the same room for five minutes, dared to say nothing after being shouted at. That older man with grizzled hair had a rather… strong voice.<p>

"I-It's huge!" Tsuna squeaked, breaking the awkward silence for the first time since the coachman shouted at them. He was pointing at the mansion, suddenly coming to realization. "W-we're not going all the way there… are we?" He glanced towards G, who just rolled his eyes.

"Of course we are."

"HIEE! I'm not going inside!" Tsuna cried. He was too freaked out by the lone looks of the place. He did not intend to go there. Ever.

"Seems like you've got no choice, Sawada Tsunayoshi," Mukuro said, adding his signature laugh. "Or I'll make sure for you to see the depths of hell right in this moment."

Tsuna shivered at the thought. _HIEE! I totally forgot how much Mukuro wants to find Chrome!_ Tsuna felt like crying at the moment. Depths of hell or the scarily looking mansion? Which was the lesser hell?

"Hey, don't give threats to Jyuudaime, stupid pineapple-head!" Gokudera growled, already prepared to throw dynamites at the illusionist.

"Maa maa… calm down, Gokudera," Yamamoto grinned, tapping Gokudera's shoulder. "Let's get going."

"It was about time for one of them to come to their sane mind…" Daemon growled silently, going ahead towards the mansion along with G. It was strange how great they were able to agree on stuff while the brats from the tenth generation were there. It was predictable. The group followed silently, even Hibari decided to follow them, keeping his distance though. About… ten meters of distance. Yeah. Hibari didn't want to crowd with them. He was sure that he'll have to crowd with them sooner or later… so why not later? Or even better, never?

Although that place looked to be too far away, it turned out it was quite closer than they thought. Tsuna felt a bit easier seeing that the mansion… or prison, how it looked to him, was actually smaller than he thought. Well, size of a half of Vongola mansion, to make it bit more precise. That didn't mean Tsuna wanted to go in there, not at all. It still looked scary. Actually, he would gladly turn back the way they came from. But the thought of something happening to Chrome and Lyn… he didn't want to take that risk. Nervously, he kept following G and Daemon who had obviously already been there. On Tsuna's right was Gokudera, faithfully following Tsuna, and on Tsuna's left was Yamamoto, his cheerful side still there, brightening the atmosphere.

Tsuna continued walking, suddenly hitting at something in front of him. He squeaked an apology, seeing that he ran onto G who apparently stopped walking. Tsuna didn't want to know why he stopped, but it's not like G wanted to hide it. Next to G, Daemon was also standing, with no apparent wish to continue going.

With a short glare at Tsuna, who immediately backed away, G sighed. "We split here."

"WHAT?" Tsuna's jaw dropped. No… they were not really going to split up? No, no… Tsuna didn't want that. Separating from G and Daemon… he disliked the idea.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gokudera growled, also not so happy about the situation, since his boss obviously wasn't.

"Yeah… what's extremely in there?" Ryohei added, glaring at the mansion.

Mukuro had a smirk playing on his face saying that he knew what the two were talking about. At the same time, Hibari made sure not to come close enough to them.

"It's simple, something that even your idiot brains should understand," Daemon pointed out. "This place is too big and too guarded for all of us to get inside and search it whole in the two hours that we have. That's why, some of you will come with me secretly, while, I suppose one or two, will remain with G and officially enter."

G rolled his eyes. "Hibari, Gokudera and Tsuna are coming with me." He grumbled, not very pleased with the idea. "The rest goes with Daemon."

"EH?" Tsuna's eyes went wide with smirks that were playing on Daemon's and Mukuro's face. That seemed to be a really bad idea.

Tsuna was just about to say something, but G interrupted him. "No objections. Primo's orders."

"But G-san-" Tsuna tried again, just to see that he was being ignored.

"Hey you, you can't just go ignoring Jyuudaime!" Gokudera growled, preparing his fist. "Where the hell is your boss anyway?"

"Primo has more important things to deal with than you brats," G hissed, pissed off already. "Now lets get going if you want to find those two…" he added bitterly.

Gokudera wanted to object again, but Tsuna shrugged, agreeing. In the end, Gokudera agreed as well, seeing that he should since his boss did.

Yamamoto, Ryohei and Mukuro were glancing at Daemon, doubtfully, unsurely and awkwardly. They all knew what kind of person he was. Question that raised in their heads was why would Primo even let Daemon to go along with them? Or was it only Mukuro who was thinking about it…

"Now let's go this way, my little group, nufufu~" Daemon waved his hand, leading them towards something that seemed to be a side entrance to the mansion. That obviously wasn't Daemon's first time in that place.

Yamamoto, Ryohei and Mukuro followed, each having their own suspicions and doubts. Yamamoto wondered about how come that the guard on the entrance didn't notice them right when they past next to him. Ryohei wondered if there'll be any extreme boxer for him to fight with. Mukuro was skeptic about the whole situation. He wanted to know if he'll get a few minutes after he finds Nagi to beat up the Melon Spade for stealing his body.

"Oh Daemon!" Yamamoto called once they were deep inside the mansion, yet undiscovered by plenty of people. Daemon ignored, apparently. Yamamoto didn't care. "Hey, Daemon, how come no one said anything after seeing us run past them?"

"You should be able to sense it yourself, Yamamoto Takeshi," Mukuro replied, his eyes narrowing. "He hid us with his damn illusions."

Daemon's brow twitched.

"Oh, so it's like we're there, but we're extremely not there?" Ryohei concluded.

Daemon's brow twitched again.

"No, it's like we're not there at all," Mukuro said, half irritated with how dense Ryohei appeared to be.

Daemon rolled his eyes.

"Oh!" Yamamoto clapped. "So it's like… for them, we're invisible, right?"

"DAMN RIGHT WE ARE!" Daemon shouted in irritation before Mukuro got to answer the question.

"Shouldn't you be extremely silent then?" Ryohei asked. "They might hear your extreme whining."

"They're right, melon Spade," Mukuro added mockingly. "Shouldn't you be _quiet_?" Look he got from Daemon made him laugh. When Daemon rolled his eyes, Mukuro laughed even more.

* * *

><p>"For the last time, Hibari! Do. What. Jyuudaime. Tells. You. To. Do." It was like acid was leaving Gokudera's eyes from all the irritation that the tenth Vongola Cloud guardian had given him.<p>

"What makes you think I'll listen to the stupid herbivore?" Hibari rolled his eyes, obviously in refusal. G and Tsuna sighed again. They weren't expecting for Hibari to agree either way. Only Gokudera kept being persistent.

"You stupid, airhead skylark!" Gokudera growled. "You're coming with us even if I had to bring out Uri to force you!"

Hibari raised a brow. "Oh, is that so?" He took out his tonfas, getting in a fighting stance with a smirk on his face. An amused smirk. "Then I guess I'll just have to bite you to death and make sure that you won't be able to stand back up, ever."

"Try me," Gokudera hissed, his buckle of Storm ready, dynamites in his hands, ready to be fired.

"Who's Uri?" G silently asked to Tsuna. At the same time, Tsuna was trying to think of something to make the two stop fighting, so he didn't answer to G.

"Oi you brat, I asked you something!" G snapped.

"Um… that's Gokudera-kun's… err…" Tsuna started, wondering what to say. "Pet! Yeah, a pet!" he quickly confirmed, awkwardly laughing.

"Why would he send a pet at Hibari?" G asked suspiciously. Tsuna kept awkwardly laughing.

"Um… G-Gokudera-kun's pet is… um…" he tried to find the words to describe the hyperactive cat that couldn't resist but scratch Gokudera. Luckily, before Tsuna got to reply that question, Hibari and Gokudera started fighting.

"Hell… stupid brats…" G hissed. "Can't you like, calm them down or something?" he turned to Tsuna, just to see that Tsuna had a panicked expression on his face.

"HIEE, G-Gokudera-kun! Hibari-san! There's no time to be fighting!" Tsuna squeaked. "G-Gokudera-kun, we have to go and look for Chrome and Lyn, remember? A-and H-Hibari-san, the-there are plenty of strong people for you to fight with inside!" Tsuna cried, hoping that the two will listen. He really didn't like his choice of words, but that was all he could think of that was possible to have any effect.

"Tch… I don't see how can you care about a bastard like this, Jyuudaime… but I'm proud to see that you have such a big heart," Gokudera silently murmured. He stepped away from his former fight with Hibari and bowed to Tsuna. "I honestly apologize for my wrongdoings."

Tsuna blinked, staring at his bowed down friend. "Eh… it's okay, Gokudera-kun… don't bow around like that, please…" he let sweat to drop from his forehead, and then turned to Hibari, who had an irritated face on.

"I'll hold you for the word, herbivore."

"H-Hai…" Tsuna awkwardly smiled. He sure hoped that they won't run onto any enemy now.

"Now when you settled it, you brats," G started, rolling his eyes. "How about we get the mission started?" Without waiting for their response, G headed over to the front doors, loudly knocking on them. A small window on the doors opened.

"Who're you?" a guard on the small window asked in Italian, only noticing the face of G.

"G of Vongola family," G growled back in Italian. "We're here to see your boss by Primo's orders."

"There's more of you?" guard blinked, stroking his jaw. That's when he noticed Tsuna, Gokudera and Hibari behind. The guard shrugged, opening the enormous doors. "I'll get Master Paolo right away. Until I do, feel free to wait in the living room." He closed the doors after the four walked in and headed towards the big side-staircase.

"Hurry up," G silently chortled, but no one paid much attention. "This way," he said in Japanese, turning to Tsuna, Gokudera and Hibari behind him. All three looked like they were being present in that hallway rather unwillingly. Especially Hibari. G couldn't help but notice it. Not from the hateful look that Hibari was sending at him. G rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, Hibari… go bite the bastards to death…"

"HHIEE What?" Tsuna shrieked.

"What I said," G cut him off. "Now go you damn skylark… we need a distraction here."

Hibari raised a brow. "Who do you think you are to order me around?"

G silently growled, but reminded himself to keep his head cooled down if he wanted the mission to be successful. "I'm only giving suggestions," he unwillingly explained.

"Well keep them for yourself," Hibari hissed, before disappearing from their sight before Tsuna could even ask 'what'. Finally something that he wanted to hear. Now, to get out all of his frustration on someone. Guards that were standing in the nearby corridor appeared to be a good choice. With an amused smirk, Hibari took out his tonfas. He sure hoped that they weren't as weak as they looked.

In the meantime, back with Tsuna, Gokudera and G…

"HIEE! This is bad, G-san! W-why did you let Hibari-san go?" Tsuna whined and complained, looking terrified. Out of all stuff G could've done… why did he let Hibari go and bite people to death? On the other hand, Tsuna didn't want to know that. It was better if he didn't. G didn't agree, though.

"We need a distraction," G explained. "Now this way," he added, leading over to the living room. Tsuna and Gokudera followed. Tsuna looked horrified, still thinking of what Hibari could do… and Gokudera seemed like he was in a bad mood. Well, it's not like he wasn't.

"Sit down," G commanded once all three were in the living room. He himself took a seat in the armchair, gesturing towards couch for Tsuna and Gokudera to sit, just as they did. G sighed, taking out a cigar. Leisurely, he put his legs on the coffee table to rest them a little while happily smoking. His mind started evaluating all the information they had and all things they needed to follow. They still had about hour and a half to finish the mission, either the damn coachman will return the carriage to the mansion without them. G made a mental note to send the guy to Alaude for a torture. And the reason for all that… well…

"_Huh? WHAT DID YOU SAY?" G let his jaw drop. They were just finishing preparing the carriage for their little trip to Paolo's mansion when the coachman decided to put down his own stack of rules. G was not going to agree with that so easily._

"_I said, starting from the moment we arrive to the destination, young master, you've got two hours to return. After those two hours are up, I'm leaving back to the mansion without turning back."_

"_Who the hell post you as a boss?" G growled back at the man._

"_I might as well agree with G," Daemon added bitterly. "Who do you think you are to give us orders, time limits and ultimatums?"_

"_Master Primo authorized me to command you if needed," coachman simply replied, showing them a letter with orange Dying Will flame burning on it. G and Daemon grimaced. _

"_Good luck with your mission, young masters," coachman smiled, returning the latter in his bag._

_G and Daemon exchanged hateful looks, both roaring in union. "PRIMO!"_

Yeah. Now, they didn't have much choice, did they? So G decided to make it all go according to the plan.

In the meantime, Tsuna and Gokudera were confusedly staring at G. The first Vongola's Storm guardian seemed to be a bit too relaxed. Cigar in his mouth, legs on the coffee table… casually resting in the other person's armchair? Not to mention that Tsuna had a feeling that the Paolo guy was a mafia boss as well… Tsuna's thinking was broken once someone burst inside.

"Eh? G?" a young voice asked, sounding quite confused. G raised his look, along with Tsuna and Gokudera, towards the voice.

Tsuna's and Gokudera's jaws dropped once they recognized the teen. Black hair, sharp face, taller than both of them… not looking older than them though… and having a confused expression on his face. And how wouldn't they recognize him? Tsuna could swear that the boy was spitting image of no one else but Xanxus, in his younger age. But that didn't mean that he was Ricardo… the Vongola Secondo… RIGHT?

"Oh, hey there, Rick," G replied lazily in Italian. The teen approaching, giving a high-five to G. "How have ya been there? The old man still forcing you to study?" G asked, letting the teen have a cigar as well.

Gokudera and Tsuna kept looking at G and Ricardo with their eyes wide open. Scratch all in the earlier paragraph. It was _Secondo_!

"Yeah… the old man's getting pretty hasty lately," Ricardo rolled his eyes, calmly exhaling the smoke of the cigar. "He's forcing me to learn physics… Physics… can you believe it? He's being so lame… but you guys are worse… didn't Giotto say that I can move to his place after I'm fourteen? I mean, my fifteenth birthday was weeks ago!"

"Yeah, yeah…" G sighed. "You'll have to talk to Primo about that. Not up to me kid."

"Where _is_ Giotto then?" Ricardo asked skeptically, pinching his eyebrows.

"At the mansion," G yawned. "Primo would join us gladly here today, but he's got fever. Anyways, we're not here to settle your moving in the Vongola mansion. We're here to talk to your dad." He gestured towards Tsuna and Gokudera, who were now beyond shock. And Gokudera could even understand their conversation…

"Gah… you and your annoying mafia stuff…" Ricardo rolled his eyes. "Dad's busy with papers again… I overheard that Alaude made him quite a big problem with the spy force that he sent at your mansion yesterday. Apparently, one of them was killed by Alaude. I didn't know Alaude dyed his hair though…" Ricardo sighed. G rolled his eyes.

"As expected from the damn idiot." G sagged. He wasn't planning to say that no spy actually died… and especially not that there was an Alaude lookalike in the mansions, Paolo's mansion now, but then it occurred to him. "Oi, Rick!"

"What?" Ricardo lazily asked, taking out another cigar from G, who mechanically lightened it for Ricardo, and then another one for himself.

"Do you know anything about the two girls that were caught in our mansion?" G asked. Ricardo raised a brow.

"You mean the two that dad was trying to extract the information out of for… hours? One is Japanese, other Italian, if I'm correct…?" Ricardo lazily exhaled more smoke and took a seat on the couch across Tsuna and Gokudera, doing the same thing with his legs like G.

"Yeah, those are the ones," G confirmed. "They were mistaken as spies by Alaude so he cuffed them. When we returned to set them free and all, they were missing. They're Vongola members actually."

Ricardo was silent for a few seconds, but he then started chuckling mockingly. "Haha, that explains why they weren't saying anything when dad started interrogating them. Geez, I thought he'll kill them… but then he changed his mind and threw them in the dungeon last night… or was it mom's old room, no clue. All I know is that he gave them something to make them forger about the interrogation." He shrugged. "Another one?" he asked with a silly grin, showing to G that he already finished his second cigar. G rolled his eyes with a satisfied smirk.

"You know that Primo's gonna kill me if he finds out that I've been giving you this," G said, giving him the cigar either way. Ricardo snickered.

"Since my dad shares Giotto's opinion, I'm only capable of smoking when you're around." Ricardo cheerfully chuckled. G rolled his eyes. Ricardo sighed then. "So who are these two?" he asked, squinting at Tsuna and Gokudera. "I didn't know you and Giotto had kids… especially not my age."

G spit out his cigar and started coughing like insane. "N-no… Never!" he gasped, trying to get his throat in order.

"Then?" Ricardo grimaced.

Before G got to answer that, Gokudera had enough. He stood up, grabbing G by the collar. "Will you fucking stop ignoring us and explain us what in the damn world is going on here!"

"HIE! G-Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna squeaked, grabbing Gokudera's shoulders.

"Let me go you brat!" G hissed, shaking off Gokudera. "Look, you two. Big part of the mission is done. You go look for those two now, they're on the second floor, third room on the left from the staircase. Get Daemon and your buddies here and then we're going back to the mansion, got that?"

Tsuna quickly nodded in understanding. He sighed, entering the Hyper Dying Will mode. There was no room for mistakes. G did say that they didn't have much time.

"Hell if I'll do that!" Gokudera hissed, crossing his arms in refusal. There was no way in hell that he's going to listen to the pink head. Hand on his shoulder and relatively bossy atmosphere coming from behind him made him change his mind.

"J-Jyuudaime…" Gokudera glanced over at Tsuna, who had a determined look on his face.

"We have something to do, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna calmly said. Gokudera shrieked, bowing and apologizing instantly. When Tsuna finally managed to stop him, Vongola Decimo turned to G. "Second floor, third room on the left from the staircase?"

"Y-yeah," G grunted. Tsuna nodded, taking his leave along with Gokudera following him. G sighed. First time that Giotto told him that the kid was a boss… of course G didn't believe it. When Giotto proved it, G still didn't believe it that much, though he wasn't really sure. Now… seeing Tsuna in Hyper mode… G was starting to believe that Giotto's Hyper intuition really is unmistakable. And even more… the ring or whatever that was on Tsuna's hand… giant X with Vongola Famiglia written on it. G sighed. He definitely needs to trust Primo more.

"Who the fuck were they?" Ricardo asked. He was as stunned as G was. After all, only person he knows that can enter Hyper mode is no one else but Giotto.

"Long story…" G stated.

"Ricardo, G, is that a cigar I see?"

Ricardo spat the cigar out of his mouth the second after hearing the voice. "D-d-d-dad?"

* * *

><p>"Nufufufu~ not here either," Daemon murmured, closing another door that he had broken into. In the meantime, Ryohei and Yamamoto were dealing with the guards that kept attacking them, covering for Daemon who was breaking around the dungeons in the basement, but most of them were all empty. Mukuro was resting on the staircase while the guards around him were all shivering in fear. Mukuro was just practically showing them why they shouldn't be in mafia, and they weren't exactly fast learners.<p>

"This is taking too long, melon Spade," Mukuro sweetly said. "How about you start digging your head in your ass, and I take over in looking for Nagi?"

"Oh sure, in your nightmares, pineapple Rokudo," Daemon hissed back.

Mukuro's vein popped, but he decided to hold back. He needed to find Nagi first, but telling to the stupid melon that she wasn't there was quite useless, so he decided to play along for a little while. He's going to make Daemon pay no matter what. "You, my dear Spade, are not worth of even a nightmare."

It was Daemon's turn to get pissed off. He let his scythe materialize and tried to slice Mukuro, but Mukuro countered it with his trident. Mukuro smirked. "It is my turn to posses you now." Number in his red eye turned to six. Corridor erupted in 'kufufufu' laugh. Even the ones who were fighting against Yamamoto and Ryohei were now caught in an illusion created by Daemon's and Mukuro's powers that Mukuro was now a not-so-proud user of. Yamamoto and Ryohei stared at their fellow colleague.

"M-Mukuro… you possessed Spade?" Yamamoto asked, blinking non-stop, just to make sure that his eyes weren't cheating on him. When corridor echoed in Mukuro's signature laugh, Yamamoto got an answer to his question.

"Whoa… I thought having pineapple-head and melon-head is around is bad, but having two pineapple heads is extremely bad." Ryohei murmured.

Mukuro sighed. He was going to let that insult pass. After all, it only meant that a Mafioso was afraid of him, which was pretty good. And the fact that possessing Daemon should be entertaining, Mukuro's mood turned on better. "Nagi is waiting, you airheads," he said, taking the lead. Daemon's body followed.

"Oh yeah! We've got Chrome and Lyn to save!" Yamamoto chuckled. He shrugged, deciding to stick along with Mukuro. After all, Mukuro seemed to know where the two were.

"Yosh! Maybe we get some extreme boxers to fight!" Ryohei added, following Mukuro as well.

They went all the way on the third floor, just to see that Mukuro stopped in front of door that seemed to be quite well locked. Mukuro tried to break them down with his trident, knowing, _sensing_ that Chrome was inside, but his attempt failed. The door turned out to be pretty strong.

"Let me," Ryohei offered. He prepared his fist. "Maximum Canon!"

Considering that Ryohei was actually using maybe ten percent of his normal strength, it wasn't that strange that only doors ended up being blown off all the way to the wall on the other side of the room. Now when Yamamoto, Mukuro and Ryohei got a chance to look, all they could see in the room was one small mattress on the other side of the room that was empty. It looked like there was no one there.

"M-Mukuro-sama?" a weak voice came from their right side. It made the teens to turn and look at that side. They all silently gasped at the sight of Chrome. She looked very pale, tightly gripping her trident in her shaky hands. There were many cuts on her face and body, and just as many bruises. Her elbow was bandaged with something that formerly looked like a sleeve of white shirt, dirtied with dry blood. Her clothes were ripped on some parts and dirty, but her eyes were shining in hope.

"C-Chrome…" Yamamoto silently gasped. What could've happened… to make her look like that?

"Mhm…" Chrome tried to say something, but her strength was completely drained out of her and she collapsed straight in Mukuro's hands, who swiftly caught her in time.

"Here comes extreme healing!" Ryohei roared, trying his best to heal the bigger injuries on Chrome as fast as he could. He too was shocked with what happened to her. A few minutes passed in complete silence, while Ryohei was doing his beast to heal Chrome, until he got too tired, but then she was already in pretty much okay condition.

"Who did this to you, Nagi?" Mukuro asked softly, helping her to sit up. Most of the bruises and cuts were now gone from her body, but there were still some left, she sighed.

"It started like this, Mukuro-sama…"

"_E-escape plan?" Chrome blinked, staring at Lyn confusedly. Their condition wasn't good enough for even trying that, especially not actually succeeding._

"_As I said, they'll have to open the door once," Lyn grinned, once again gesturing towards the only door they could see. "So, once they do, how about we strike them with illusions and break out of here? We can make an illusion of us pretending to sleep. They'll fall for that sure. If they're idiots, they might even try to rape an illusion. Funny, right? Anyways, unless if it's Daemon Spade or Mukuro-san who come around, no one else should figure it out, right?"_

_Chrome felt dizzy from the idea that Lyn just got. "B-but Lyn-chan… isn't that risky? I don't think that it's Daemon Spade who trapped us in here, but… whoever did… I don't think they're weak…"_

"_But you have your Vongola gear!" Lyn pointed out. "Since they didn't take it means that we're not busted! And you won't be doing it alone! I'm an illusionist of CEDEF, for Decimo's sake! The last time we worked together, G and Lampo actually fell for the trick for quite a while!" _

"_Lyn-chan…" Chrome sighed unsurely. She wanted to say that G and Lampo were probably having too much fun for thinking about breaking the illusion, but Lyn was right. Both of them were strong illusionist. United, they could possibly even overpower Daemon Spade, but she still had a bad feeling about the plan._

"_It's settled then," Lyn grinned, getting up on her feet. She dragged Chrome's hand and girls approached to the door. Each standing on one side, waiting… and waiting, and waiting. They ended up sitting on the floor, exhausted from lone standing, since no one bothered to come. _

_Sun was brightly shining straight in their room through the small window, proving them that the morning arrived. Lyn groaned, forcing herself to stand up again._

"_What jerks…" she mumbled. "Geez… it's starting to hurt now…" she rubbed her wrists first that were all blue and swollen and obviously painful. _

_Chrome nodded, agreeing with Lyn about everything, except that they were 'starting' to hurt. They weren't starting. Chrome started feeling the pain for a while already, and it didn't let her rest at all. Suddenly, grumble behind the door stiffed them. Lyn quickly nodded and Chrome took out her trident, ready to fight in anyway needed._

_The door opened, and two guards walked inside. As planned, they noticed the illusion that the girls made to replace them. Even though the illusion was weak, Chrome and Lyn didn't waste time. They quickly rushed out of the room before the guards figured out what happened. Lyn in the meantime grabbed the keys, slamming the door behind the guards and locked them inside._

"_Mission success!" Lyn grinned, collapsing on the ground. Chrome sat down next to her. They were too exhausted. Even creating illusions was tiring them a lot. _

"_I think we shouldn't stay here… others might come and catch us…" Chrome silently said. Lyn nodded in agreement. She forced herself to get up, in the meantime cuts on her legs started bleeding._

"_Damn!" Lyn hissed. "Oh well, I guess that all we can do now is try to get out of this place. Hm… so how about going there, Chrome-san?" she offered, pointing at the nearby staircase. Having nothing better on her mind, Chrome agreed. They couldn't exactly run very well, but walking was supposed to be enough since the place looked abandoned. They were quickly downstairs, when one of the guards noticed them. _

_Lyn groaned. "Illusion!" she gasped. Chrome understood what she meant. Girls sticked to a wall, creating illusions of themselves running away. Guards immediately chased after them, falling straight in girls' trap._

_Lyn gave a high-five to Chrome, and they continued going towards something that looked a lot like door leading out of the place looking a lot like a rich mansion. They headed there, ready to counter whatever was coming their way, just to get out of the place. _

"_Trying to run away, huh?" a cold voice asked, making girls to turn around and gasp loudly in surprise. _

"_Who are you?" Chrome silently asked. She noticed that Lyn's hand was already on the handle and she gave almost invisible sign to Lyn to open the doors and Lyn understood it._

"_Now shouldn't you introduce yourselves first?" man asked, offering a hand. Lyn rolled her eyes._

"_Since you're holding us trapped here you should probably already know who we are. So answer the question."_

"_Now that's some arrogance you have there, little girl." He took out a gun, amusedly playing with it. He leaned it straight on Lyn's head. "Do you still think that you can be as arrogant?" _

_Lyn shrugged, poking Chrome while the man was not looking. Chrome's eye widened, realizing what Lyn wanted to do. True enough, there was nothing else she could do anyway._

"_Uh… okay," Lyn replied, sweating. "My name is Clara Walsh. Happy?"_

"_Hm? Walsh? I've never heard of family like that," man stated. "I think you're lying."_

"_So you know all possible family names in the world?" Lyn asked, falsely excited, letting a fan-girl side of her comes out. "That's so amazing! I want to know too!" A shot fired a bit over her head made her shut up._

"_Don't act ignorant, brat." He pressed the gun on Lyn's head harder. "Why would Vongola trap you unless if you two are important or spies?"_

"_Maybe because we forced Daemon Spade to dance?" Lyn offered instantly, making the man chuckle._

"_I still think you're lying, brat!" he exclaimed, firing another shot. Chrome screamed. She could've sworn that Lyn was shot at. But something felt wrong. When the blonde girl collapsed, Chrome realized what it was. The man, however, didn't._

_Lyn kicked his crotch from behind as strong as she could, exclaiming to Chrome to open the door and run, just as Chrome did. They ran as quickly as they could outside. Once they reached the main gate, girls stopped for a bit of rest. _

"_T-that was awesome… Lyn-chan…" Chrome panted. "W-when did the illusion start?" _

_Lyn also panted, before struggling to answer. "W-when he put the gun on my head…" she explained. "I had a feeling that he'll shoot if I speak, so I didn't want to take that risk. Luckily he's not very illusionistic."_

_Chrome blinked, wondering what Lyn meant. _

"_Haha… illusionist!" laugh came from behind. "Now I see why Vongola was imprisoning you two! That was one damn strong illusion!"_

"_It wasn't," Lyn pouted. "You're weak." Chrome nodded in agreement, though she felt like she shouldn't have. Man was standing only a meter behind them and it's not like they could do anything to run away. _

"_You'll regret that," man silently threatened, but it was enough to make chills go down Lyn's and Chrome's spine. _

"Next thing I know, woke up in the room where you found me, Mukuro-sama…" Chrome shyly finished. She was feeling whole lot better now. Only if she'd know what happened to Lyn…

"Kufufufu~ just show me how they look. They'll wish to be sent to hell," Mukuro replied with a smirk playing on his face. Oh yes. He had wonderful plans, filled with torture ideas in his head that he intended to use on Daemon, but since Daemon was already possessed by Mukuro, why bother? He should just do all that to the ones who hurt Chrome. They had deserved it more than anyone else did."

"Oh well, it's good to see that you're alive Chrome," Yamamoto chuckled, supporting her with another grin. "Now we should go and look for Lyn, shouldn't we?" he pointed out.

"H-hai," Chrome quickly agreed, shyly standing up on her feet. She was glad to finally see familiar faces around. Even if she wasn't locked in the room for too long, she was still overly worried.

"Kufufufu~ I guess I'll come along too," Mukuro added. Mukuro in Daemon's body only smirked. Chrome instantly moved away, seeing that she was standing near Daemon. Mukuro chuckled. "No worries, Nagi. Daemon Spade is nothing but my puppet now."

Chrome nodded, not really sure what it meant, but sure that it meant she shouldn't be afraid. Now they were ready to move.

"YOSH! Save Lyn to the extreme!" Ryohei roared and the group headed off to look around. It was luck that they dragged most of the guardians in the basement. Now, their path was almost clear.

* * *

><p>Tsuna and Gokudera went over to the room that G sent them to in order to find Chrome and Lyn. Sure, when they arrived to the room, they didn't expect that... First of all, doors were locked, which wasn't that surprising to either Tsuna or Gokudera. When Tsuna nodded, Gokudera blew up the doors with his dynamite… maybe too much dynamite, but he couldn't help it. Jyuudaime requested from him to blow up something, so he was going to do it right. Who cares if wall explodes as well.<p>

Anyways, they weren't expecting to see that inside of the room were actually two guards. They were both leaned over to the side of the wall completely opposite of the wall where the door were. Both looked shocked from the explosion that erupted in the hallway, especially when half of the wall disappeared in front of their eyes. More shocking for them was to see that Tsuna and Gokudera were confusedly observing them.

Gokudera rushed, grabbing them both by the collar. "Where are the damn girls?" he asked in Italian, really irritated. When the two refused to tell him, he started threatening them.

In the meantime, Tsuna started carefully observing around the room. It was quite a dark place, even if the sun was directly shining in it. On each wall, right and left from the door were blood stains that Tsuna had a feeling that belong to Chrome and Lyn. He mentally groaned, realizing that they were late. Of course, Chrome would maybe even wait to be rescued, but with Lyn around… it was rather that they'll try to escape. He sighed. Oh well, at least he was sure that they weren't dead.

"They ran off, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera exclaimed, punching the guy who gave him the information after a short mocking that he received from Gokudera. Both were lying on the ground now, unconscious. "They used illusions to escape and lock these guys here."

Tsuna nodded, signing that he heard what Gokudera said. "They're hurt," he said. "We have to find them, Gokudera-kun."

"Of course, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera exclaimed. They ran out of the room quickly, now checking each room around, but there was nothing… no one. Tsuna had a feeling that something was very wrong, other than Chrome and Lyn being hurt, and he didn't like it.

They headed off to search over the third floor, but in the middle of the stairs, ran over onto some finally familiar faces.

"Eh, Tsuna! Gokudera!" Yamamoto exclaimed when he and Mukuro almost crashed at Tsuna and Gokudera.

"Stupid baseball-freak! You can't speak to Jyuudaime like that!" Gokudera instantly growled. He got even more pissed off when once again, Yamamoto laughed it off as if it was nothing.

"C-Chrome…" Tsuna muttered, finding himself eye-in-eye with Chrome, who instantly smiled.

"Boss…" she muttered.

"Kufufufu~" double laugh echoed down the hallway. Tsuna confusedly looked at Mukuro, and then Daemon. He only took a second to figure it out.

"Mukuro… why did you possess Daemon?" Tsuna asked seriously.

"Well, isn't it easier when we don't have to be worried about being betrayed, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro asked, finishing with his signature laugh coming from both him and Daemon. Tsuna sighed. Mukuro was partly right about that, but that still wasn't justification for anything.

"Are you alright, Chrome?" Tsuna turned to Chrome, noticing that she still had a few cuts over and that her school uniform was in a bad condition.

"I'm alright, boss," she replied with a small blush on her face. So far, only person she wasn't blushing around of was Lyn.

"That's good," Tsuna smiled at her, making her blush even more. Now, all they had to was find Lyn, then get G and Hibari and leave the place before they create too much of an uproar, or that's what Tsuna wanted.

"Shouldn't we go then, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro asked. Tsuna gave off a short nod.

"Lyn's not on the third floor, right?" Tsuna wanted to check before they head down. When he got confirmation, he nodded again. "She's not on second either."

"Leaves only the first one then," Yamamoto grinned. Yeah, one floor for seven people… it shouldn't take too long to search over.

* * *

><p>"Ricardo, G, is that a cigar I see?"<p>

Ricardo spat the cigar out of his mouth the second after hearing the voice. "D-d-d-dad?"

G only coughed a little, looking over to the door of the living room. A man looking a lot like Ricardo was standing in the doorway, leaned on the door frame. He chuckled.

"You Vongola sure give my son some bad habits," Paolo pointed out, taking a seat on the couch, across Ricardo. Ricardo moved his legs off of the coffee table immediately, but G didn't even bug.

"You sure like breaking our ultimatum, Paolo," G pointed out, giving another cigar to Ricardo, who confusedly took it, though he didn't dare to light it in front of his father who was curiously watching. G lightened another one for himself, even offering it to Paolo, who refused it.

"I didn't break anything, G. Where did you get such insane idea?" Paolo politely asked.

"Ultimatum said that if you don't want a war with Vongola, your people can't enter the Vongola property, you can they give any harm to any single Vongola member or you can misuse our stocks or our possession," G breathed the smoke. "You broke all of it."

Paolo raised a brow at G. "And how did I break it, remind me please?" he requested. G chuckled.

"For instance, you sent your spies to Vongola mansion, breaking the first point. You kidnapped two Vongola family members and injured them, breaking the second point-"

"Ah… so that's why those two were so persistent in not speaking," Paolo chuckled, interrupting G without bothering to deny anything. "I guess it explains everything except that they were cuffed!"

"That was our mistake, which once again brings us to the point that you broke the first point," G hissed, rolling his eyes in irritation.

"Oh, I see. But I wonder, how did I break the third one? I didn't use anything that belongs to you. I didn't steal anything from you, nor did I misused anything," Paolo chuckled. "I maybe didn't break all three, G."

"Oh yes you did," G yawned. His head shook towards Ricardo who was still bugging with himself if he should light the cigar or not. Paolo's eyes shined in hate towards G.

"How can you prove it?" Paolo asked, rather pissed off.

G's lips curled in a smile. "Why would I bother? You already broke the two points? You and Capelli Famiglia are as good as dead."

"What makes you think we won't fight back?" Paolo growled with voice full of hate, realizing that he was probably already done for.

G shrugged, finally taking his legs off of the coffee table and standing up on his feet. "W_hat_ are you going to fight back with, Paolo?" he asked, eyeing Ricardo and giving him a short nod. Ricardo jumped on his feet straight away.

Paolo cursed. He eyed Ricardo. "Is that how you treat a father? Huh? Is it, you filthy brat? If you seriously do join the Vongola, it will be your brother and sister that you'll have to confront!"

Ricardo swallowed hard, thinking of how to respond. He knew that… he knew it all too well. That's why he begged Giotto to move over and live with him. In the end, he sighed, whispering one weak "Sorry," but then his voice got louder. "Though, I think I need to remind you that Catia said she's not going to stick around."

"You were warned in time," G sighed before Paolo got to say anything. "Let's go, Rick. Your dad needs to learn that Catia and Manolo are not as stupid as he is. Well, excuse Manolo, actually."

Ricardo couldn't help but smile a little to that. Even the gun that his father took out wasn't fast enough to erase the smile from the teen's face. G also noticed the gun, but it was possibly too late. Paolo fired the shot, aiming at one of the two.

Someone crumbled on the ground, cursing loudly while gasping from the pain.

* * *

><p>"So, Reborn… remind me again why did you call me all the way to come from Italy, and now we're going back to Italy, kora?" Colonello raised a brow at his Arcobaleno buddy.<p>

"Yes, Reborn! I have many more important things to deal with then your random ideas!" Skull shouted, waving his hands all around. Short glance he received made him crumble down, muttering "I apologize, Reborn-sempai."

"Calm down, everyone," Fon interjected. "Reborn wouldn't gather us all this way if it weren't for something important, am I correct?" he asked, curiously looking towards the Sun Arcobaleno who had a serious face on.

"Oh come on, what can it be so important?" Verde asked, not exactly caring. "I have many experiments to continue, so you better make it quick, Reborn."

"You do know that I'm here only because you said I will get some money," Mammon reminded.

"Come on, everyone. If Reborn-kun gathered us all here, it must be important. Reborn-kun isn't a type to joke around much," Aria softly smiled at everyone present.

"So?" Lal broke the few seconds silence, along with everyone looking at Reborn.

Reborn's face got serious and he sighed. "As you all heard, Vongola headquarters were attacked by the Todd family. Condition of the Vongola family is quite bad. Mansion is in ruins, hideouts all around the world are exposed and Nono and his guardians went missing, along with Decimo and his guardians." Reborn stated.

"We know that, kora!" Colonello rolled his eyes. "Get to the point."

"Don't go commanding me around, Colonello," Reborn said, and the two started the bull fight until Aria separated them a few seconds later.

"Come on, Reborn, what is the reason you called us all here for? I'm sure plenty of us has many things to do now since the Vongola family is quite in bad shape." Aria pointed out. Reborn sighed again.

"You're right about that, Aria. Actually, I know what happened to Decimo and his guardians, though I suppose none of us know who they really are." Reborn observed the reaction of the other Arcobaleno before continuing. "Decimo and his guardians were sent to the past long before they were born by a strange ritual that even I never heard of. Their existence is erased from our minds, but we do know they're gone, even though we know nothing of who they are."

"But, what kind of a ritual can make that happen?" Aria asked. "I never heard of such thing. And isn't Vongola Decimo young Tsunayoshi-kun?"

Everyone in the plane turned to Aria confusedly. They knew nothing of Vongola Decimo, but she…

"I guess this is even more confusing now," Reborn said. "I know no one going by that name. Anyway, when I was looking for the information of what was going on, I came across the man who did the ritual and sent them to past… he said that exactly forty eight hours after the first one was sent to past, it'll be like they never existed."

"This still has nothing to do with me," Verde pointed out. "Sure, that kind of conspiracy idea sounds interesting, but who could've done such thing? That completely erases all the bounds of space and time."

"I agree, Reborn-kun. It's practically impossible, but done somehow." Aria added.

"Hibari Kyoya and Azzaro Lyn," Reborn said. "I believe you don't know who they are." When everyone except Aria nodded, Reborn continued. "They went missing right before my eyes. They were the last ones. It was exactly thirty seven hours ago and forty nine minutes. If my calculations are correct, we have less than three hours to find a way to return Decimo and his guardians here. Otherwise, you do know what happens when someone disappears from one, and appears in another time."

Tension grew in the small area of the private plane that Reborn ranted for that occasion only. They had too little time.

"Oh, do you have anyone who could stand behind the whole set up?" Fon asked. "It's impossible for only one person to be able to do it."

"I do, actually," Reborn replied. "Both of my suspects are there where we are heading off now."

"And who are they?" Lal narrowed her eyes.

Reborn smirked at her especially. "Glo Xinia…" Reborn said. Not many of them were suspicious or confused. To the Arcobaleno, it made sense. Reborn smirked even wider, finishing his sentence. "And Genkishi."

* * *

><p>Tsuna sighed, hitting the wall with his flaming fist. The wall cracked a little, but that's only because Tsuna was holding back. That he hit it with full strength, he didn't even want to imagine what would happen. They found nothing, nothing! All of them searched through the whole first floor, and then passed down to search the basement again, but they found nothing. There was no trace of Lyn, it was like she sank in the ground without leaving any clue behind.<p>

He, Chrome and Gokudera were now left a bit behind, while others were still searching around. It was strange that they didn't run onto Hibari either, but that could be dealt with latter. Tsuna knew that Hibari can take care of himself.

"I swear that I'll kill that woman," Gokudera growled. "How can she make Jyuudaime worry so much?" he was telling it to Chrome, since the two observed from a bit further how worried Tsuna was becoming.

"I don't think Lyn-chan did it on purpose…" Chrome murmured. "I… I'm sure that she's still here…"

"Che… she better is!" Gokudera spat.

"Is there any place that we didn't check?" Tsuna asked, making his two guardians to turn to him once again.

"Um…" Chrome started thinking. Gokudera too, focused on using his brains. Chrome was the first to answer though. "Attic maybe, boss?" she offered. Tsuna nodded.

"Yeah… we skipped it," Tsuna concluded. "Let's go to the attic, Gokudera-kun. Chrome, go tell the others where we're going," Tsuna said. Chrome quickly nodded, doing what she was told. Tsuna sent a bit of reassuring smile to Gokudera. "Let's go, Gokudera-kun."

"Hai, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera shouted enthusiastically, and the two started running over to the staircase, it was just when they were on the first floor, when they heard a gunshot. Both froze immediately, felling that something was very wrong. Tsuna headed straight towards where the gunshot was heard from, but Gokudera grabbed his shoulder.

"It's alright, Jyuudaime. I'll go check what that was," Gokudera offered. "You go find the damn woman!"

"G-Gokudera-kun…" Tsuna silently stared at his Storm guardian… his right hand. Determination in Gokudera's eyes made him agree. "Be careful, Gokudera-kun!" he exclaimed, running up the staircase towards the attic.

Gokudera proudly smiled at himself before heading over to the living room. He was one hundred percent sure that the gun shot came from there. Sight inside left him breathless.

At the same time, Tsuna was running as quickly as he possibly could towards the attic. He was happy, once when he finally reached it. It didn't take him long to silently take out the two guards up there that noticed him a bit too late.

Tsuna then rushed around, checking the each room. He was sure that it'll take him a while to do that alone. Although the mansion was as half as big as Vongola mansion, that mansion was also enormous, and Tsuna wasn't finding it easy to deal with it. Room by room… each was either full of old stuff, either nothing at all, and Tsuna was slightly getting even more nervous. Especially that he started having a strong headache.

He broke into another room, once again finding nothing. His irritation, uneasiness and bad mood grew even more with each step he made. Worry about Gokudera… worry about Lyn… about that gunshot too… about his family… about people in the past that he couldn't remember off… It made it all hard for him to deal with.

He ran onto the doors that were locked. He tried breaking in them once. Nothing…

Twice…

Again, nothing.

Third time… finally, the lock broke and he found himself in another one of empty rooms. But this one wasn't completely empty. Relaxing smile appeared on his face. "Thank god… Lyn…"

"T-Tsuna?" Lyn blinked, looking up at the familiar face. Tsuna tried to ignore that she was full of cuts, injuries, bruises and such, and went over to set her free. Her hands were tied for her legs tightly, so she couldn't even move a muscle except the ones on her face.

"What the hell did you do to make them tie you like this?" Tsuna asked, struggling with the ties. Lyn emptily chuckled.

"I tried to break out once or twice…" she replied with a weak smile. Noticing the doubtful look Tsuna was sending at her, she tilted her head a little. "Alright… it was five times… but I swear, no one died."

Tsuna shook his head. "I guess all five were fails…" he muttered, struggling to untie her wrists. Lyn sighed sadly.

"With the last one I reached over the stairs… too bad, I tripped," she explained.

"Not so strange considering your condition," Tsuna concluded. Lyn rolled her eyes.

"Thanks…" she silently murmured once her hands were free. Tsuna said nothing, only continuing to untie her legs now.

He was still trying to ignore all injuries and cuts that Lyn had… and even when she yelped in pain when he untied one rope. It was obvious that every single inch of her body was in pain.

He was too concentrated on untying the things so that he wouldn't have to hurt her with flames or anything, that he realized it too late when Lyn screamed his name. It was only a short… millisecond lasting pain in his head, and then it all turned dark.

"Tsuna!" Lyn screamed as Tsuna's head fell right next to her knees and the Dying Will flame on his head died down.

* * *

><p><strong>Once again, I apologize for being so late! My updates will be limited on once, maximum twice a week. Sorry T-T blame school for that!<strong>


	11. A Capelli

**IMPORTANT: Yeah, I know. This chapter is very short. But there are many reasons for that. First of all, warnings that I should've put a while ago, thought I haven't expected for the story to go this way. Anyways, first of all, story is now rated M, mostly because of this chapter. It's M because of violence, blood and stuff such as that. If you don't like reading those kind of stories, turn back. NOW! **

**Second, I think I probably forgot to mention it in the last chapter, but time in Present, where Reborn and the Arcobaleno are is flowing a bit differently from the time where Tsuna and the gang are. Even though I'd sometimes switch from present to past and vice versa, events in present and events in past ARE NOT happening at the same time. Reasons will be discovered soon. **

**Poll will be closed once I post the chapter 12. Vote if you want! Anyways, it was only there for my curiosity. There'll be no pairings in this story (It DOES NOT APPLY for possible sequel or spin-off)**

**Enjoy the chapter, and leave a review~**

* * *

><p>"Oh, so you're saying that Tsuna and Gokudera went to look for Lyn on the attic?" Yamamoto asked, looking at Chrome partly confused. "But why didn't they come to tell us?" he wondered out loud. Actually, the moment he asked that question, he got the answer. They sent Chrome to do it. That still didn't explain why. Or that's how he understood it.<p>

"Boss was very worried," Chrome shyly replied, blushing a little. She was present… she saw how uneasy boss felt. That was enough for her to agree immediately. She disliked seeing her boss like that. He had the same look in his eyes like when he suddenly ran onto Chrome on the staircase. The worry… uneasy feelings… wariness… they were biting him inside and Chrome wanted to prevent that at any cost.

"That's so like Sawada… always extremely worrying too much," Ryohei concluded knowingly.

"Haha, that sentence fits to Tsuna perfectly well, sempai!" Yamamoto chuckled. "We shouldn't stay behind then, right? Why don't we go and join Gokudera and Tsuna?" he suggested.

"YOSH!" Ryohei exclaimed."Where is Sawada to the extreme!" Without waiting for the answer, Ryohei headed towards the stairs.

Yamamoto scratched the back of his head. "I better go get him before he gets lost. Tell Tsuna that we'll join up with him soon!" Yamamoto shouted, waving off to Chrome.

Without any better idea but to agree, Chrome reservedly nodded, turning to Mukuro and Daemon who were a bit further. "Mukuro-sama?" Her face filled with worry when she noticed a scowl on both faces. Well, except that Mukuro's eyes were closed and a deep crease appeared on his forehead. He opened his eyes, realizing that Chrome was watching him worriedly.

"Kufufufu~ there's no need to be worried, my dear Chrome," he reassured her. "Daemon Spade is just being little rebellious."

Chrome's eyes flew to the possessed body of Daemon Spade. He looked normal, along with the scowl that melted in his face nicely. Chrome, though, was quite doubtful in Mukuro's words. Not that she knew why, but she was sure that whatever Mukuro seemed to be worried about, it wasn't Daemon Spade. But she didn't want to intrude.

"Are we going to help boss, Mukuro-sama?"

"We'll see, my dear Chrome…" Mukuro raised his hand, trying to gesture at something, only to let it fall away at his side. Why he couldn't move his muscles fully, he had no knowledge of. His eyes couldn't fixate on one single dot and his sight was getting blurry. Did he overdo it with possessing Daemon? Possession was never meant to last that long… and with so little rest after possessing so many people at the same time. But Mukuro was sure that it wasn't just that. It was like something was intervening with his senses. He no longer felt attached to his body. Before getting a single chance to even think about what has been going on… he saw area around him shifting for ninety degrees before being overwhelmed with darkness.

Chrome was unsure of what Mukuro was trying to tell her when his hand fell down. She knew that whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Not when Mukuro's eyes seemed so empty like as if there was no life in them. "Mukuro-sama?" she approached for a step, only to step away seeing that Daemon's body crushed down on the ground. "Mukuro… sama…" It wasn't good. Why would Mukuro ever release Daemon Spade so easily? Why? Chrome couldn't comprehend it. She wasn't holding grudge against Daemon or anything like that… but… "MUKURO-SAMA!" she screamed once the blue-haired illusionist fell on the ground right before her eyes despise the fact that his eyes were still half-opened.

"Mukuro-sama! Mukuro-sama!" she shouted, quickly kneeling next to him and trying to wake him up, but no reaction was there. Mukuro looked like he was peacefully asleep and that there was no way for him to be waken up by noise or Chrome's shakes. She couldn't even connect to him in any way that she could before.

"How long… was I-?" Daemon, who had just awoken, stopped in the middle of the sentence, meeting with Chrome's confused eye glaring at him while tears were forming in it. "Oya, oya…" he stared confusedly. Then he became aware of Mukuro on the ground. The girl didn't think that he did it, right?

"P-p-please…" Chrome's voice trembled when she spoke. "Please help Mukuro-sama!"

Daemon grunted. That confirmed that it wasn't his fault. However, he didn't want to help her. Well no, actually, he didn't even care, to put it simply. Or it would only be, he wouldn't care… that his Vongola Mist ring didn't start shining. Earring on Chrome's ear reacted to the light that Daemon's ring was glowing with and Mukuro's Mist earring as well. To put it simply, Vongola Mist earrings, version X were resonating with Daemon's Vongola Mist ring.

"What… is going on?" Daemon blurted out.

Mist flames erupted out of his ring and Chrome's and Mukuro's earrings, draining their energy insanely fast. Too insanely fast.

* * *

><p>"Let's go, Rick. Your dad needs to learn that Catia and Manolo are not as stupid as he is. Well, excuse Manolo, actually." G said firmly, gesturing the teen to follow him.<p>

Ricardo couldn't help but smile a little to that. Even the gun that his father took out wasn't fast enough to erase the smile from the teen's face. G also noticed the gun, but it was possibly too late. The shot was fired, hitting its target.

Paolo victoriously smirked. "That, is what you get for messing up with a Capelli!"

G groaned, insanely cursing before he even fell on the ground. Bullet in his chest was making it hard for him to breathe and there was just so much blood around. His gut was telling him that he'll die rather from the blood loss than anything else.

"G!" Ricardo exclaimed, tilting over G and pressing his chest hard. Soon his hands, sleeves of his shirt and pretty much hi knees were drained in G's blood, but he couldn't think of a way to stop the blood flow. G's eyes were half closed and a bitter smile was playing on his face. Ricardo desperately kept trying to make the blood stop flowing out. He was thankful that his father had such a bad aim. Otherwise, he didn't want to know what would have happened if the bullet pierced G's heart. Luckily, it missed it for more than ten centimeters.

That didn't erase the fact that G was still losing his blood too fast.

"G! Come on, you can't die on me! G please! You promised to take me to a fair next month! You promised that even if dad or Giotto dislike me smoking, you'll still give me a cigar! You promised that you'll always be there! You can't break those promises!" Ricardo torn up his shirt, pressing it on the small wound in G's chest. Teen was completely oblivious, no ignorant to the presence of his father.

"You little runt…" Paolo hissed. "Even if I raised you… even if I gave you food, shelter, water… even if I gave you your damn fucking life, you're turning to idiots such as Vongola?" He scowled, anger bursting out of him. "I gave you fucking everything, yet you had decided to turn to the Vongola!" His pride was shaking. He did not raise his own child to become a pet of Vongola! Gun in his hands started shaking as he was aiming it at his son. It didn't matter. He would not linger. If needed, he will shoot.

Ricardo's fist clutched on his torn shirt that he was using to stop G's bleeding. He realized that it was probably useless. It was impossible for the help to arrive in time. Who could he call for help anyway? Those two Japanese brats? They wouldn't do a damn thing. Tear was slowly going down his cheek as his father's words were deeply engraving in his brain, one by one. By each word his anger rose up for a degree. His desire for revenge grew stronger.

It was nothing to be surprised about. Ricardo… ever since he first met Giotto and his Guardians grew to have a friendly relationship with everyone, even Alaude and Daemon, except for G. G was the only one not approvable of Ricardo as a probable heir to Vongola. So once Ricardo stole G's cigar once, they started talking. Slowly, even G grew to be attached to Ricardo, and out of everyone in Vongola, Ricardo grew to be closest with G. Not ever did Ricardo dare to tell his struggles to anyone else but G who seemed to have understood. But now, as Ricardo seeing his friend… his relative…his big brother… dying. He couldn't sit back and stay quiet.

_Flick_

Ricardo clutched his fist tighter. Since he was a child, his father had been torturing him mentally. Forcing him to do stuff he didn't like and forcing him to back away from the stuff he loved. Ricardo never had friends because of that.

_Flick_

Not ever did Ricardo want to see anyone… ANYONE… dying before his eyes. Ever since he saw his mother die, he had enough. Out of all people… for that to be G… he could not forgive. Who cared if it was his father who was at fault.

In his fist, a spark appeared. And then another one… and then it burst into a flame. An orange flame, with darker orange stripes. Paolo's eyes widened in the sight. _H-he has… Sky flame? _

Slowly, before the flame got to burn too much of Ricardo's torn shirt, he released his fist. Behind, the part of the shirt that was caught in flame was left in ashes.

_N-no… that… that is not a Sky flame… _Paolo stepped away. Not ever did he felt such killing intent coming from anyone. Especially not his own son. He flinched as Ricardo made a step towards him, his eyes hidden in shadow.

"I… despise you…" weak voice came out of the teen's mouth. Flame created in his palm grew bigger, stronger… fiercer… Paolo couldn't understand. Did his son secretly train under Giotto for all the time Ricardo had spent with him? Or was it that the boy was just bursting out without any knowledge?

"I… detest you…"

Paolo felt like he couldn't move anymore. He was good ten feet away from his youngest son. How Ricardo appeared right in front of him, he could not explain. Fireball of orange flames was heading straight for his head. Paolo could feel lone desire to kill pushed into that small fireball. Hatred… gore… wrath… he knew that it was over.

"DIE!" scream echoed through the hall when Ricardo put every single bit of feelings that he had into the small fireball. He felt that he hit something. Something that was resisting. He wanted to make that resistance shatter… but he had no strength to do so. He overdid it already. Light show that was created in the living room felt wrong, and Ricardo gave up. He stopped forcing his flame to struggle, falling down on his knees and panting.

Wiping away his sweat, he could see his father pushed aside… being protected. His resolve shattered. Every single bit of him was put into that one attack. For his attack to be countered by a mere bystander… Ricardo felt disappointed… crushed. It was like he was fighting the lost battle. He felt destroyed… he failed.

He tried to see who countered his attack, but all he could see were bone-like loops… two of them. There was something in it…reminding Ricardo of a weird, invisible flame that was letting him see behind the loops. He grunted, recognizing the person as the silver-haired dude who was accompanying G earlier. He didn't know the name. All he knew was that the guy was down on one knee, not easily taking that attack.

Paolo was pushed away by Gokudera, moment before fireball of Wrath was aiming to hit him. Gokudera used his bone loops to protect the black-haired dude, at least until he finds out what made Ricardo go berserk, by the G laying behind Ricardo was an answer Gokudera was looking for. He panted a little, before he stood back on his feet. Force of Ricardo's flame pushed him down pretty hard. But he encountered worse than that.

"… the hell… was that?" Gokudera grunted, letting his bone loops to return where they were before. He looked at the teen on the ground who was clutching his fists, looking towards Paolo with obvious hate. Gokudera turned to Paolo too, seeing that the guy once again got a reach of his gun, though his hands were shaking too much for him to get a clean hit. Especially because he wasn't sure whether to aim it at Ricardo or Gokudera.

Gokudera didn't need a lot of braining to do to guess what happened there. Before Paolo got to do anything, he approached the man, kicking the gun away from his hands.

"W-wa… weren't you on my side?" Paolo stuttered, taking a step back from Gokudera. The teen was reminding him of G too much. It couldn't be…

Gokudera rolled his eyes. "Who the fuck would be on your side? Bastard… I should fill you with dynamites right now!" And even before he finished the sentence, bunch of dynamites were already prepared in his hands. He wondered whether to make the man swallow them or just to stick them all to the idiot's back. Gokudera scowled. Yeah. Making the guy swallow it should do the trick.

Ricardo's eyes slightly brightened. Maybe not everything was lost.

* * *

><p><em>Drip… drop… drip… drop…<em>

Continuous sound of water dripping was all that Tsuna managed to hear. There were a few gasps here and there as well, but he couldn't register whose. Not like it mattered, anyway.

Slowly, Tsuna was regaining his senses that he had lost in a short while. Along with his senses, one, not thing that he was eager for, had returned as well.

_Pain_.

It was too strong. The spitting headache he had was killing him. Was he hit on the head so hard? But Tsuna couldn't remember. Last thing he knew was that he found Lyn after a while of searching, but that she was tied badly.

"_Alright, it was five times… but I swear, no one died!"_ her voice was resonating in his head. Was that only thing he could remember? But it didn't matter. Tsuna had to help her now. There was no time. He had a feeling that something really bad was going on.

Tsuna clutched his hand in fist. He could feel something unknown around his wrists now, despise the pain that was blinding his head, shoulders and wrists. Now where did all that come from, he wanted to know. He needed to get up and go and find Gokudera. He remember the shooting. Someone was hurt. He couldn't just lay there. In his attempt to push himself into a sitting position, Tsuna tried to move his hands… but he realized that he couldn't. Something was stretching him, tightly wrapped around his wrists, pulling them away from his body as most as possible. He tried again, opening his eyes a little to find a reason why he couldn't move.

Tsuna felt confused, finding that he wasn't even lying. No. He was literally hanged. His arms were fully stretched, unable to move at all. That's why his shoulders were in pain as well. All the pressure was on them. His legs couldn't even touch the floor. He tried to blink, but light was disrupting him.

Before he knew what was going on, icily cold water splashed him whole, making him shiver in cold. He coughed out the water that ended up in his mouth.

In between a splash of water and his coughing, Tsuna also heard someone loudly gasping.

"Finally, the brat is awake. He can start answering our questions now," someone muttered in a language that Tsuna recognized as Italian. Even though the picture Tsuna could see through his eyes was sort of blurry, he could discern two shapes, most probably people.

"Stupid. Boss ordered just to keep him here until he comes," woman's voice replied, as well as in Italian. The conversation turned into an argument from which Tsuna couldn't recognize any single word.

"So, how about you tell us your name, boy?" the male voice asked. Tsuna's vision got sharper, and he could see that the person had brown hair of shoulder length. It sort of reminded him of Genkishi's hairstyle, except for the color and the fact that the guy had no bangs. And his face looked a lot… pointy.

Not understanding what the man said, of course Tsuna couldn't respond. He heard the man repeating the same word two times before suddenly feeling dull pain in his stomach. Even if he couldn't determine what it was, Tsuna somehow felt that he was probably hit.

"TSUNA!" familiar scream made him avert his gaze in the other direction. It sounded like Lyn. But she wasn't there. Tsuna couldn't get a sight of her. _Oh…_ he found her. She was in pretty much same position like Tsuna, right across the room.

"No one told you to speak!" second woman in the room released her voice. Tsuna blinked. He had a feeling that Lyn was now in trouble. Because of him.

"Are you fools insane?" Lyn shouted back at the woman. "He doesn't speak Italian! Stop it!" she screamed.

"Oh… I thought you were claiming that you didn't know him?" woman pinched her eyebrows. "Were you lying?"

Lyn groaned. "Yes, I was lying! But I never thought you'd actually fall for such lie. Why would anyone try to set me free if I didn't know them?" Her voice was utterly sarcastic and she rolled her eyes. Woman forced away irritation that hit her with Lyn's attitude. Tsuna was now sure that Lyn was in big trouble. He tried to release himself from the chains, but failed. It was useless. Chains were too tight.

He gasped seeing how hard the woman kicked Lyn.

"Alright, then you'll answer the questions," the male, brunet guy, said. "Who is he?" he gestured towards Tsuna.

"Jyuudaime," Lyn calmly said.

Tsuna was surprised how normal her voice sounded even after she was kicked so hard.

"Repeat that," male guy raised a brow. "I thought you called him Tsuna."

Lyn rolled her eyes. "Baka~" she sang in low voice. Tsuna panicked immediately.

"L-Lyn! Y-you can't just go insulting torturers!" he cried, using last bits of energy to speak. Two heads turned to Tsuna, excluding Lyn's. She did something that Tsuna reminded of a shrug. A failed shrug.

"It's not my fault that they're stupid," Lyn replied in Japanese. "And besides, even if I tell them the truth, they-" she gasped for air in middle of her sentence, receiving another kick from the woman. "T-they… won't believe…" she finished her sentence, panting.

For the first time, Tsuna wondered what were they asking Lyn. He promised to himself that, if he ever gets out alive from that thing and returns to future, he'll _nag_ his tutor to teach him Italian.

"And how about you translate the little conversation the two of you were having," woman offered, patting Lyn's cheek. Lyn sighed.

"He told me that I can't go around and insult torturers and I replied that it's not my fault that you're stupid."

Woman's vein popped and she was just about to kick Lyn again.

"Enough."

Short word, not even so loud, was enough to stop the woman's leg in mid air. Lyn gasped. Even though she never received a kick in her stomach, force that was supposed to hit her left her breathless even without hitting her.

"Boss," the two torturers immediately bowed to the newcomer.

Tsuna turned his head a little, trying to see who it was. That he could, he would've cover his mouth in horror. He had seen that man before. He was sure of it. The only problem was… he couldn't remember where. He couldn't remember when. All he knew was that he did see that scarred face and dark eyes before… in woods…

"What did I say about torturing our guests?" the man asked, looking from Tsuna to Lyn, from Lyn to Tsuna. Both his subordinates bowed their heads lightly.

"We truly apologize," both said in union. Woman stood up first. "We had no choice, Mateo. He," she gestured towards Tsuna, "didn't want to speak up anything, and she," she gestured towards Lyn, "was lying with every little molecule of her body."

Lyn mechanically rolled her eyes. "As if!" she spat. "You never asked from me to tell you the truth!"

Chills passed down Tsuna's body. Was Lyn trying to get them killed? Because her 'I speak what comes to my mind' attitude definitely was aiming to kill them.

Seeing the look Tsuna was giving her, Lyn lowered her head. "I'm sorry," she said politely. "I'm not strong enough to use illusions to get us out of here. Actually, I'm not strong enough to move. But I promise, I'll… I'll get us out of here… somehow…"

"Eh…" Tsuna blinked, completely forgetting about the other three people in the room. "B-but… it'll get us killed! N-no, Lyn… it… it's okay… we'll get out of here somehow… don't push yourself," Tsuna said awkwardly. Lyn once again tried something that looked like a failed shrug. That obviously caused the newcomer… and boss, apparently, or so Tsuna though, to chuckle.

"Eh, you Japanese people…" he sighed. "I guess we started on the wrong foot, Miss…?" he questionably stared at Lyn. Lyn blinked.

"Clara Walsh."

"Alright, Miss Clara. My name is Capelli Manolo. In my own unit, most of members call me as Mateo Chelsea," Manolo replied politely.

Lyn's lips curled into a skeptic smile. "I'm known as Queen of the Shadows."

Tsuna blinked. Once again, he made a promise to himself that he'll learn Italian. Whatever Lyn was saying, Tsuna was sure that it'll get them into a very big mess.

"I don't think I ever heard of you," Manolo said knowingly. Lyn chuckled.

"Hence the nickname," she explained.

"I wouldn't agree," Manolo replied. "Actually, I think you're lying."

Lyn grimaced. "Now where did you get that? Do you have _Hyper intuition_ or something?" she asked skeptically, purposely emphasizing the Hyper intuition part.

Tsuna didn't need to know what Lyn said… nor that guy. Anyways, he was sure that it hit the spot. The guy with scarred face seemed very irritated. As in very, very, VERY irritated.

"I should've known." Manolo rolled his eyes. "Vongola."

Tsuna and Lyn, along with the two Manolo's subordinates raised their heads, staring at Manolo unquestionably. There was no need for Tsuna to know what that meant. Look in Manolo's eyes told him far more than needed. Terrified face on Lyn told Tsuna even more.

"I want you to get every single information you can out of them," Manolo said in harsh voice, turning to leave the room. Before walking out, he stopped on the door, shortly glancing at his two subordinates. "Any means necessary."

Smirks and sneers overwhelmed the composed face of the two that were now the only ones left with Tsuna and Lyn in the room.

"Well then, let us begin."


	12. Mafia war

"A-ano… Reborn-sempai…" Skull called out, lowering his head… err- helmet, down. He wasn't exactly willing to look at Reborn in any way. Dirt under his feet felt so much easier to look at. And it was even more interesting!

"What do you want, Skull?" Reborn asked, in not really interested-sounding voice. Whatever Skull was annoying him for could probably be dealt with latter. Or never, if it's Reborn to be asked. If Skull already looked like a baby, there was no need for him to act like one.

"Well, Reborn-sempai… I was thinking… um… about the plan…" the Cloud Arcobaleno started, stuttering a little. _I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!_ He rubbed his hands, attempting to put out what he wanted… out loud. Too bad, fear that his dear sempai would smack him wasn't exactly boosting his confidence. Or so Skull though. Still, he was sure that he needed to point it out. Maybe Reborn was wrong. After all, the whole situation was just too… twisty? Come on. How could _Glo Xinia_ of all people… be blamed for something so… so big. Skull remembered the creepy face. He had seen it only once, in reports that were related to the future that the guy was mentioned as the one who messed up with Carcassa family's profit. He sure didn't like the creep and-

"You can think?" Verde broke the flow of Skull's thinking with his sneering voice.

Skull's face underneath his helmet went red from the anger he felt and his ears burned in embarrassment. He burst out, "O-of course I can! Everyone can! Except for you!" It was a bit too late when he realized what he said.

"Are you saying that I can't use my brain?" Verde implied. Dark aura was surrounding him even if there was a sweet smile on his face. He wasn't planning to simply let the stupid, stupid, brainless Skull insult him. He had enough of Reborn forcing him to stay in the mini-version of a mafia war, and now a damn brainless, obtuse and ignorant brat to insult him? Him, the great scientist? Well Verde was not going to put up with that, that's for sure.

"Stop with the show-off, stupid! We're not in need of enemy knowing that we're here yet, kora!"Colonello said, giving a knowing nod at the Lightning Arcobaleno.

"How… did you just call me?" Verde turned to him, dark green aura erupting from his body.

Fon just shook his head, not bothering to do anything when Colonello answered back to Verde. That was the very occurrence of every time the Arcobaleno meet. The fact that they were in for a war was never changing anything. Deciding not to bother, he turned to Reborn. "So, Reborn, what is your real plan?"

The Sun Arcobaleno shortly glanced at him. "What I've just said _is _the plan."

Fon gave him a tolerant smile, not exactly sure why. If Reborn was serious, then it would be a trouble. Colonello and Verde seemed to share Fon's opinion, since they stopped fighting the moment Reborn spoke, turning to look at him with wide eyes. Even Skull looked uneasy. No wonder that Aria, Lal and Mammon went missing the moment the plane landed in Vongola private airport. They were the first ones to hear the plan. Fon sighed. He probably wasn't the only one disliking the idea.

"S-So… R-Reborn-sempai… you weren't joking about _me_… being the _bait_?" Skull's eyes widened behind his helmet. He let out a quirking sound as silently as he could. _No way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way, no way_! With every molecule of his body, Skull prayed that it was only a simple-minded joke.

"I hope you don't mind if I intrude, but… sending Skull as first isn't exactly a masterpiece plan, Reborn," Fon pointed out.

"Thank you, Fon-sama! Thank you, thank you!" Skull shouted, nervously nodding to Fon who only sent a reassuring smile at Skull.

Reborn's eyes sparked fire in a least obvious manner. Everyone felt the atmosphere change. Who cared that they were in a forest… in the middle of the night… about to cause a war.

"Then let me hear your plan, Fon."

Bitter-sweet voice of the Sun Arcobaleno crawled into the ears of the Storm Arcobaleno. Fon's eyes flashed towards Colonello as he sent a composed smile at Reborn. "How about sending Colonello?" he offered. "After all, Colonello is the one usually having a great and flashy entrance, not to mention that he's not exactly…" he sent unsure look at Skull, who immediately felt called. "…timid."

"I-I'm not timid!" Skull exclaimed. "I'm not-"

"What are you up to, kora! I don't want to be the bait, kora!" Colonello interjected.

"How dare you interrupt the great Skull-sama?" Skull protested. Colonello had no reaction to Skull. Like the Cloud Arcobaleno wasn't even present. Otherwise, he'd lose the bet… with Lal.

"That isn't such a bad idea, Fon," Reborn said, strange aura still present, "But, Colonello's… err- flashiness is more needed inside, and not dragging the attention to the outside, if you get what I mean."

"I see," Fon closed his eyes with an entertained smile. Not like he had anything else to add.

"Who said I'll ever listen to you, kora!" Colonello shouted at Reborn, angry for being ignored the last time, and not having any word… in his own participation in Reborn's master-plan. "And what the hell do you mean 'Colonello's flashiness', kora?"

"Hm… now that is an interesting one, Reborn," Verde victoriously smirked, seeing that Reborn had no intention to reply to Colonello. "I wonder how will the little Rain be able to put up with so many people…"

"Heh…" Colonello proudly scratched his nose. "I did take out over thousand hitman singlehanded, kora!"

"But that still makes me the bait! I don't want to be the bait, Reborn-sempai!" Skull kept shaking his head.

"I don't think I ever asked you to be one, Skull," Reborn pointed out softly. "I ordered you."

"Y-yes, Reborn-sempai!" Skull immediately flashed his hand over to his forehead obediently, before it fell down. "I don't want to be the bait!"

"Skull…"

As much as Reborn's voice was silent, that's how frightening it was. Or that was how Skull thought of it. Sure, for the Cloud Arcobaleno to dare to say no to his oh-so-dear sempai… not that Skull would ever dare to. Buts and ifs were allowed; till some limit (which Skull passed over a while ago). No; never.

"So, Reborn, when will the operation start?" Verde comfortably leaned on the nearest tree. He was tired of simply standing and doing nothing. He needed something to do. As in _right now_. After all, it appeared to be that it'll take a while for Reborn's plan to start. Not that Verde wanted to do such things… but it's not like it wouldn't be interesting.

Reborn smirked at Verde. "Aria, Lal and Mammon are getting in their positions as we speak. Shouldn't you be doing something, Verde?"

Verde started coughing, remembering what Reborn requested him to do. "As in… now?"

"Now," Reborn confirmed with a nod.

Lightning Arcobaleno's head turned towards Skull mechanically as disgusted and displeased expression appeared on Verde's face. "Oh well… at least it will be interesting latter." But why did it have to be him to do it?

Skull started shrinking, feeling like a piece of pea comparing to Verde. He knew that whatever Reborn whispered to Verde's ear after explaining his plan at first, it couldn't be good. Why else would Reborn have such an entertained face playing over. But… why did the plan have to do whatever it did… with Skull?

* * *

><p>"Mammon, did you call Reborn-kun to tell him that we're in positions?" Aria asked in soft voice, taking her cover behind a tree. She was prepared, brushing through her hair with her fingers.<p>

"No."

"Then what the hell are you waiting for? We're in positions!" Lal asked, mercilessly jumping off of the tree, right on Mammon's head.

"It's not like you're in your position!" Mammon retorted. Lal rolled her eyes. If smacking Mammon's head would do any good, she'd do it all the time. But apparently, it was useless. So she just sighed and jumped up on her branch, setting the sniper.

"Now call him," Lal snorted.

Mammon took out a phone, pressing a few buttons. "We're ready," he shortly said. Before he even got the reply, he hung up, returning the phone from where he took it out before.

"You know, Mammon-kun, maybe you should've waited for Reborn-kun to tell you if there were supposed to be any changes," Aria pointed out. "You know how Reborn-kun is."

"Maybe," Mammon confirmed. Not that he cared. He sensed something and his lips curled into a smile. "Get to your position, Aria. They're coming out." He saw Aria nodding, right before his illusion covered her. It was supposed to stay like that as long as she's inside the mansion. The Vongola mansion. The Vongola mansion of which north and east sides were smoking.

"Mammon," Aria added in warning voice, proving that she was still with them.

"Oi, Mammon!" Lal shouted once the back door broke and three men ran out of the mansion. Lal recognized them all. Her finger played on the trigger. She was ready. All she needed was to make sure that Mammon does his part of the work. And for the Todd men to get in her aim.

"Shut up," the Mist Arcobaleno hissed. He's not so stupid that he had to be reminded twice. Lal was now hidden in his illusion as well.

Behind the three Vongola men that were literally thrown out of the mansion, came two men with a strange crest over their chest. People who either Mammon and Lal couldn't recognize. It was enough to tell them both that those were the intruders. After an explosion on the other side of the mansion, east wing actually, burst out, the two men started laughing.

"Vongola's already done for it," one of them said.

At the sound of that, Lal and Mammon both had hard time in remaining calm and hidden. They knew that the entire east wing was destroyed and north one was in cracks that shouldn't be entered. That is why they were entering from west, and Reborn and the rest of the Arcobaleno from south. But to hear those idiots say it in such a relaxed manner. It disgusted them.

Another guy started smiling at the sentence of the first guy, while the three Vongola men felt like they were slapped over their face. Each of them wanted to make their attackers regret on their words. Their gritted teeth were actually supposed to explain themselves, and fists that they gathered were supposed to hit the two Todd family members. To kick them and punch and rip their skin… To torture them. But not like Vongola men were in position to do anything. They were disarmed and the enemy was pointing weapons at them. Feeling of despair overcame them. There was nothing they could do for their family, and just like the others, they'll-

Two sudden gunshots broke the flow of thoughts for Vongola men and their enemies crushed down, hit by almost invisible bullets. The trio was left stunned as they turned over to the side from which the gunshots came. Their jaws dropped seeing that there was no one there. Not on trees, not hidden. No one.

"S-so it is true that the Vongola is protected… by higher forces…" one of the three muttered only to be slapped by the second one.

"Shut the hell up! Don't make ghosts revenge on us! We nearly betrayed the Ninth!" he cried.

"Let's just go and notify Varia…" the third stuttered. "They should handle the Todd bastards. I'm actually surprised that they haven't arrived yet…"

The other two rolled their eyes. "Varia takes care of the tasks that are ninety percent sure victory. _We_, for example, only have five percent chance to survive! Imagine the situation with the rest of the family!"

"Oh lets just get out of here…" the first one muttered, dragging off the other two.

When they were gone, Lal jumped on Mammon's head again. "There was no need for you to hide us from them!" she blurted out.

"Don't tell me what to do," Mammon simply replied.

Lal ignored him, turning to the place where Aria stood. "All clear. We'll guard your back." Apparently, invisible Aria was already gone.

"My part here is done," Mammon said. Finally, he got to say those words. He sighed, flying up in the air thanks to the snake above his head. Before he went up too high, he noticed that Lal disappeared from her former position. "No…" he managed to point out before suddenly, Lal jumped on his head again, forcing Mammon to hit the ground with a groan.

"Not yet."

Mammon fixed his hoodie, his face slowly turning green. _Just not that…_

* * *

><p>"Well finally, kora! We've been waiting too long, kora!" Colonello exclaimed once Verde finally got out from the deeper woods he and Skull went in, for the sake of Verde's self esteem and sanity.<p>

"It's not like I was given an easy task to accomplish," Verde blurted out. "Feel free to fill in for me the next time."

"As if, kora! I'm not a make-up artist, kora!"

"Well neither am I!" Verde fixed his glasses.

"Calm down, Colonello, Verde," Fon sighed. "Now where is Skull? Shouldn't he be here already? We've been waiting too long, really."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the fool ran away. He looked rather unwilling to take part in this," Verde explained.

Fon sighed, turning to look at Reborn. "Reborn, what did you have Verde do to Skull?" the Storm Arcobaleno asked. He already had a few things in his mind, neither of them very likeable to him. It's no wonder that Skull wasn't showing up.

On the other hand, Reborn looked rather satisfied with a smirk playing on his face. "You'll see." He tilted his fedora a little to hide his eyes that were probably now sparkling in joy, when he said: "Come on out, Skull. I know you're there."

At first there was only silence, and then the four Arcobaleno could hear footsteps going through the high grass. Slowly, the sound was becoming louder and louder, until finally, something… no, someone… appeared, only protruding behind the tree.

"Skull."

At Reborn's silent call, another one of the steps was made, as in the sight of the four Arcobaleno entered a girl. She had long, brown curls, reaching her hips. Her eyelashes were dark and long, looking like they were fake. Many piercings were there, along with red blush on her face. Fon and Colonello had no problem in realizing that it was Skull actually, even though there was no helmet and the eyes of the girl were brown. Contacts weren't hard to find. Although, only thing that made them suspicious about was it really Skull was the heights. Oh… and the white dress that the girl was wearing. The girl looked like an ordinary teen-girl… excuse the piercings and a small tattoo of an octopus underneath her knee.

"Eh? Is that you, Skull?" Fon blinked a few times, just to make himself sure that he wasn't seeing things.

"There's no way for that to be Skull! The girl's too cute, kora!" Colonello stated. He and Fon both turned to see face expressions on Verde and Reborn, not even noticing that the blush on the girl's face got stronger. Either of the two gave them the uneasy feeling. Verde was wiping his glasses with a smirk playing over his face, while Reborn had some sort of satisfaction look on his face.

Fon sighed. "Tattoo says otherwise."

"Y-you…! I'll make sure you to feel Skull-sama's wrath!" the girl stuttered. "As soon as all of this is over, of course!" she quickly added.

Fon and Colonello turned their heads over to the girl who started sweating in face a lot. _It's definitely Skull…/kora!_

"How did you actually manage to do this, Verde?" Fon turned towards the crazy scientist. Sure, he could've guessed that it was Skull. But what made no sense was that the girl had knee-length dress… that was actually revealing smooth and… well… um… nice… legs… in Fon's opinion, that Colonello was obviously sharing. Mentioning that Skull looked just so real… like the real girl… Fon couldn't resist asking. How was it even possible?

"Well, I can do anything," Verde smirked, proudly scratching his nose.

"Explain that will you, kora!" Colonello stared at Verde.

Attention from Skull passed over to Verde long ago, and the Lightning Arcobaleno was actually quite pleased about it. Maybe his work as make-up artist could bring him some great money. _Heck! Scratch that!_ Verde scolded himself. _I'm not going to turn into a money-lover like Mammon! It's the wonders of science that are important!_

"Stop with distractions," Reborn commanded. "Skull," he called, looking towards the girl, who immediately stiffened.

"Y-yes, Reborn-sempai?"

"As I said half an hour ago… Aria, Lal and Mammon are in their positions."

"Y-yes, Reborn-sempai!" Skull gulped, one big drop of sweat going down down his cheek. Deep inside, he cursed at Verde for using waterproof make-up.

Reborn rolled his eyes. Wasn't it obvious what he said already? Was Skull that stupid that he couldn't even realize that? _Scratch that… he is stupid_. "Skull, go."

Skull gulped, realizing what he was told. "Y-yes again, Reborn-sempai!" he stuttered, quickly getting out of their sight. Not like he wanted to be present there anymore anyway.

Reborn noticed two curious set of eyes aimed at him, which made him smirk. "What?" he eyed Colonello and Fon. "Are you going to make Lal and Aria wait forever?" That seemed to have quite a good effect, and the Storm and Rain Arcobaleno were reminded that the operation had already started.

Colonello swore to himself that he'll make Verde explain all that, before he went to do his part of the work. Fon, on the other hand, wasn't going to let it slip.

"You owe me explanation for this, Reborn," he whispered on the ear of the Sun Arcobaleno. Reborn's smirking face sort of darkened at the warning voice of the Storm Arcobaleno, but it quickly returned to what it was before.

"Sure."

* * *

><p>"Feeling better yet, Giotto?" Knuckle asked with a grin over his face, sitting on the bed of his longtime friend and boss. He patted the head of the Vongola Primo to make sure that the fever was gone , regardless of not receiving the reply. Giotto gave Knuckle a weak chuckle.<p>

"How can I feel better while I know that they're all in Paolo's mansion? I should've gone with them… What if something happened, it's been hours!" Giotto said, oblivious to the dose of panic that he put in his voice. He was way too worried to be thinking about it at the moment.

"If you were to go with them, Giotto, you'd never recover from your cold," Knuckle pointed out. "And as for the fact that it's been hours, well… you do know that they probably won't be back before lunch. Paolo's mansion is least three hours away from here if they go in normal speed." He too, was worried, no more, no less than Giotto, but he did have some trust. "Oh, and G and Daemon are with Tsuna and his guardians. There should be no problem. They know how Paolo's like."

Giotto sighed, throwing himself back at his pillow. He had no fever anymore, luckily. "I know, Knuckle, I know. But that still makes me worry. To be honest, I'm more afraid that something will happen to G or Daemon… I have a feeling that Tsuna and his friends can take care of themselves better than we can."

Knuckle let out a half-hearted laugh on that. "I might as well agree with you that Tsuna and his friends can take care of themselves. Honestly, I'm more worried that G and Daemon will start a war among themselves!"

"That wouldn't be surprising at all."

The sound of the third voice in Giotto's room made Giotto and Knuckle stiffen. They weren't aware that they had company.

"But I still think that if there'll be any war coming, it'll most probably be between G and Gokudera… or Daemon against Mukuro. Maybe even both, or that's only how I see it," Asari said, finishing with a bright chuckle. Giotto and Knuckle relaxed in a second.

"When did you get in here, Asari?" Knuckle grinned. "I don't think I heard you enter the room."

Asari shrugged. "I can be silent," he smiled. "How's your cold, Giotto?"

"Better, thank you," Giotto said, smiling at his Rain guardian. "Oh, that reminds me… weren't you in charge of Lampo and Lambo?" When Asari gave a nod, Giotto continued. "Do you know where are they at the moment? I have some strange feeling that something strange is about to happen… I just want to know that they're on safe."

"They're in Lampo's room," Asari replied, sort of looking worried. "I was rather surprised to see how good they're getting along, considering that they're both pretty similar." He scratched the back of is head with a sheepish grin.

"Giotto, are you saying that something bad is going to happen?" Knuckle asked after a whole minute of sort of tensed silence.

Giotto sighed, wondering how to explain it. "I guess you can put it that way… but it's more like… something bad will happen to someone I know… I just can't explain it." He placed his hand on his forehead. "Ugh… it's all the cold's fault. I can't even think straight… especially not determine what my intuition is trying to say."

Asari and Knuckle exchanged worried looks, both turning to Giotto the next second. Their boss needed rest. Asari sent Giotto a reassuring smile. "Just take some rest, Giotto. Knuckle and I have everything under control."

"But-"

"Don't worry about anything, boss," Knuckle winked. "We've got it all settled. Just rest up. When you get up all healthy, G and Daemon will be back with some good news." He patted Giotto's shoulder, pushing him back on the bed.

"But-"

"Just get some sleep Giotto," Asari said softly. "We know that you need it. Worry not about the mansion. Like I said, Knuckle and I have everything under control."

Giotto sighed in resignation. His two guardians were just too stubborn. He let them cover him with a warm blanket and leave his room with those reassuring smiles. Giotto sighed again, hitting his own forehead. "They didn't even let me tell them that I sent Marcus to take G and Daemon to Capelli's… this won't turn out good…" He shook his head a little, turning on his hip. It didn't take him long to fall asleep.

* * *

><p>"Are you alright, Mukuro-sama?" Chrome asked, worriedly observing Mukuro whose were opened now. She had no idea what exactly happened. At one moment, her and Mukuro's Mist earring started resonating with Daemon's Vongola Mist ring and Mist flames lit up against their will, but there was nothing they could do about it. Flames enveloped them, hiding everything from their view, until they suddenly died down, leaving Daemon, Mukuro and Chrome exhausted and panting. Mukuro in the mid-way awakened, also surprised with the situation. Now, as far as Chrome could see, they were in the middle of some ruins that she couldn't recognize, all three alright and okay, but way too tired to explore the place.<p>

"I'm alright, Nagi," Mukuro replied softly, patting her cheek. He used his elbows as support to get in the sitting position. He didn't know how or why, but he felt exhausted. He must've seriously over-done it while possessing all those people. That would explain all the fatigue he felt.

"Now, if you could explain this," Daemon interjected, showing around the place where they were, "I'd maybe even let you live." He eyed Mukuro with determination and irritation. He needed explanations, now!

Mukuro used the chance to look around and see what Daemon was talking about. Area around them… not even Mukuro could recognize it, but he was sure that it looked familiar to him. Reminding himself of Daemon's words, he sneered. "Are you threatening me?" Mukuro pinched his eyebrows. "Kufufufu~ you can't even stand up against me, yet you're threatening me?"

"Who do you-"

"Where are we, Mukuro-sama?" Chrome interjected, in order to stop the two from fighting. She had a feeling that she didn't want to be present if suddenly Mukuro and Daemon started fighting. Heck. She didn't even want them to fight. Even if they were both exhausted, that wouldn't stop them from throwing insults at each other like crazy, and Chrome was well-aware of Mukuro disliking Daemon Spade… but first thing's first.

Mukuro once again took a good look on the place around them, letting his mind wonder over his memories and life. He managed to stand up and walk on his own, despise knowing that Chrome was there to help him. He kept looking around, trying to find anything that could help him figure out where they were. He stopped, noticing the wall right across him… as well as a small paper that he stepped on.

"So?" Daemon broke the intense silence.

Mukuro chuckled, picking up the small paper. He turned to Chrome, softly smiling at her. "This, my dear Chrome… no, Nagi…" he gestured towards the half-destroyed walls that were, despite being half-destroyed, looking familiar to Chrome and Daemon. "Is Vongola mansion."

There were a few moments of silence between the three Mist guardians and then… "Nufufufu! _You_ are stupid if you think that I'll fall for such a lie!" Daemon sneered mockingly. "This cannot be Vongola mansion! There is no possible way for Vongola mansion to be destroyed, you ignorant fool!" he chuckled at Mukuro, whose body stiffened and face turned a bit too serious.

Chrome didn't fail to notice the change. She was well aware that Mukuro wouldn't be joking about things such as that. But… for Vongola mansion to be in such condition?

"Well," Mukuro broke the awkward silence, staring down at the paper in his hand. "It is definitely not the Vongola mansion that you know of."

"And how about you explain that, Rokudo Mukuro," Daemon hissed, getting annoyed with all the suspense of not knowing where he was. How could he even be transported from Capelli mansion to Vongola mansion anyway? Not that he actually believed that the place was Vongola mansion…

Mukuro noticed Daemon's tension, and couldn't resist chuckling, though he felt that the situation wasn't funny at all. "Well, Daemon Spade… this _is_ the Vongola mansion," he said in firm voice, taking a deep breath and checking the paper once again. "It is Vongola mansion in our time."

Last sentence was mostly meant for Chrome.

Daemon pinched his eyebrows. There was no possible way that Vongola mansion in the future was in _such _condition. There was no possible way!

Chrome was sure that Mukuro wasn't just joking around in order to upset Daemon. She gasped in horror. "I-is… that a joke… M-Mukuro-sama…?"

On the surprise of all three, another voice than Mukuro's responded.

"I'm afraid not."

* * *

><p><strong>Oh god... I'm glad I managed to finish this today! I've been so busy with school that it really sucks =.=' anyways, onto the important stuff!<strong>

**First of all, Poll results!**

1. Tsuna (5 votes)  
>2. Gokudera, Yamamoto, Hibari, Mukuro (all of them 2 votes)<br>3. Asari, Alaude (1 vote)

**Lol, I was quite surprised with the results, but that's cool xD**

**Second thing I wanted to point out here is... um... sorry for not showing what happened with Tsuna, Lyn, Yamamoto, Gokudera, G etc... That'll come in the next chapter! I wanted to make sure that you readers don't forget about Giotto and Reborn since yeah... their role will definitely grow bigger from now on! As for Mukuro, Daemon and Chrome... no worries... answers will come soon :3**

**I hope you like the chapter! Leave a review~**


	13. Flame

"See, it wasn't that hard!" Lal shouted, smacking Mammon's head and muttering for herself. "Stupid Viper… what's so hard in changing clothes? You still have a hoodie over your head if that's the problem." Luckily, Mammon hadn't heard her muttering, so no, he didn't cast a bunch of bloody illusions at her. Not that he won't though…

"It's harder than you think!" he hissed. "Now stop wasting time… time is money after all."

Lal rolled her eyes. Seriously. She should've taken pictures of Mammon wearing jeans and that sweat-shirt, still covering his head with that strange hood… Anyways, that made her wonder why Reborn requested for all of them to change clothes into something ridiculous, except for Aria who was supposed to be and stay invisible for a while. Even Lal had to wear a freaking skirt! Deciding that it could possibly be a bad idea for her to concentrate on stuff such as that during the mission, she decided to slap Reborn later. After all, first thing's first. Now, off to the only not-so-badly-damaged part of Vongola mansion! Err, one of the two.

Mammon crossed his arms in annoyance when Lal went inside. She didn't even bother to tell him! "Oh well… at least I'll have fun," he murmured, revealing his indigo pacifier. Indigo light shined in a really strong way, making the whole woods enlightened. Next second, Mist flames enveloped around whole Vongola mansion and Mammon victoriously smirked. "I'd like to see anyone try to get in now." But seriously, not everything was about money. Mammon, as a member of Varia, was a part of Vongola as well. Seeing Vongola family in state that it currently was in, of course it made his blood boil. Deep inside, maybe he'd never admit it out loud, but at least he could to himself. He trusted Reborn on his whole conspiracy theory. He had hopes in Reborn's plan. Now, if anyone else would find out about it, he'd kill them.

Back to the matter at hand.

Lal was now rushing through the hallways of Vongola mansion in order to find any possible place for enemy to hide at. Well, actually her assignment was to find the control room from which she could observe everything and contact Reborn and share the information. It honestly wasn't an easy task, though. Vongola mansion was full of everything… secret passageways, traps, dungeons, underground tunnels, secret rooms, and of course Lal didn't know all of them despise being a CEDEF member. Sure, she knew the underground tunnels well, but enemy did as well since Reborn said that they were destroyed. Only thing then for her was to head down the long and tricky hallways of Vongola mansion and hope that she won't get lost.

It was strange that during her inviolable breaking through Vongola mansion, she hadn't run on any single person. Alive. Well, maybe the ones who were lying down on the sides of hallway were alive, but she had no time to check it out. Too much time was wasted. According to Reborn, when they landed down in Vongola private airport, they only had one hour to find out and correct that whatever happened to Vongola Decimo and his guardians. Thirty nine minutes was wasted in planning it all and spending time in preparations and stalling. Now, that was only leaving twenty minutes in saving the tenth generation of Vongola family, and Lal was more than sure that it wasn't enough. But then again, they had to try it out.

She was running in from a hallway to another hallway, remembering that Reborn told her that out of places in Vongola mansion (which Lal soon saw to be completely… in a bad state on the inside, even worse than the one on the outside), area around control room will be in best shape. Lal, guided by that, realized that she was close once she ran onto part of the mansion which still looked shiny and glossy as the way she remembers of it.

It took her around five more minutes storming around to find something that her gut feeling was telling her that was control room. The control room she was looking for. Bad enough for her was that the room was… full of enemies… the enemies who saw her.

"Crap…"

… _whack!_

_BANG!_

… _CRASH!_

…

"Hn… weaklings…" Lal rolled her eyes. Four men that were actually twenty times bigger than her were all tied up in gruesome way and were hanging for the ceiling on their little toe. Lal smirked, taking her seat to see what she came there to see, but before doing that, she decided to kick the trio that was pretty much filled with bruises she gave them.

"Bastards… you can't go and underestimate a girl wearing skirt!" she hissed, before devoting herself to doing her job. Since her moves in a damn skirt that she was wearing were limited, she had made her decision to smack Reborn on the head after everything's been settled.

Good thing, she didn't waste too much time on dealing with idiots. Because now, every second mattered.

* * *

><p>"Good, Lal's inside." Reborn let Leon turn back into his original form before turning to Verde who was in the meantime programming something on his laptop that he insisted bringing with him because he was 'bored'.<p>

"Well, from all the shouting and crying and whining, I'd assume that Skull did his part well," Verde acknowledged, giving a short nod at himself. "Apparently, Colonello seemed to be pretty angry when Skull ran in his way."

Reborn smirked. "Skull done it better than anyone else would ever, considering that all he had to do was run around and scream, _like a girl_."

"My my, Reborn… seems that you're not as happy for not being present when it happened." Seeing the change of aura coming from the Sun Arcobaleno, Verde quickly changed the subject. "U-um, is Fon inside?"

Small scowl played on Reborn's face when he confirmed. His phone rang again, and he didn't waste any time in picking it up. Scowl turned into a smirk after he heard what the caller said. "Good," he replied. Next second, he hung up. "It's our turn now, Verde," he admitted. "Lal found Glo Xinia, and Fon is currently taking out the guards around the mansion. Aria is still trying to track down Genkishi, but that doesn't seem to be going as good. Anyways, ninety percent of the plan is going just as planned."

"And looking in percents, how many of them would be needed for the operation to possibly work?" Verde questioned, not so sure about the tune in Reborn's voice. Something else was wrong and Verde was sure that it had something to do with the entire plan Reborn had put up. Seeing that the Sun Arcobaleno turned his back to Verde before answering was a clue enough.

"One hundred."

Verde sighed. It wasn't as bad as he thought then. He started following Reborn over to the door that he headed to. They were going like that for only a few minutes, when Reborn suddenly stopped in front of a large door.

"This is it," Reborn said, keeping his voice composed. It was the moment of truth. He was standing right before the doors of what once used to be Vongola Ninth's private room. According to Lal, Glo Xinia was there, along with a few of his subordinates. That's why Reborn had Verde to come with him. Of course Reborn could deal with all the bastard himself, but he wanted to get information from Glo Xinia. If he were to start dealing with his subordinates, the boss would explain.

"Alright, so then where are you going?" Verde asked, noticing that Reborn was moving away from the entrance.

"When you go inside, take them all out," Reborn said in serious voice. "This room has only one more way out, which I'll go to cover."

Verde shrugged, seeing that all he could do was listen. As Reborn left his sight, he took a deep breath, pressing a button on a remote control that he brought with him. "This is going to be fun," he muttered as he opened the doors.

* * *

><p>Smiles and sneers came over the faces of two people that were in the same room as Tsuna and Lyn. Alone.<p>

"Well then, let us begin."

The Italian words scratched Tsuna's mind and once again he wanted to cry and complain and whine and even curse for not knowing Italian. The two sadistic male and a female in the room with him and Lyn had face expressions like that, so that Tsuna could only feel that something bad was about to come. And even Lyn paled a little when the words were said. By everything Tsuna knew, Lyn never went pale nor was she scared. Never. Sign that that's exactly what was happening in that moment made Tsuna realize that if he doesn't do something, they're both finished. Not to mention that his intuition was nagging him about something. But what could he do? He wasn't strong enough to even move… especially not break the chains and-

"So, let's start again." Female's voice forced Tsuna to stop thinking and start looking. She was now approaching Lyn with softness in her voice and a sweet smile on her face that made Tsuna want to throw up. "What is your name?" she asked to Lyn.

Lyn eyed the woman with hate. "If you're asking for someone else's name, isn't it polite to introduce yourself first?"

Woman frowned. She swore to herself to make the stupid blonde suffer later. "Alright, I'm Sarah. Your turn."

Lyn sighed. "Clara." If she already made it up the first time, why not going on with it… not like they knew anyway.

Both, Sarah and the other guy in the room had skeptic faces on. They had their doubts. Not like they'd fall for the stupid trick, but by everything they knew the girl's name really was Clara. But they had no way to prove if it were true or not. Blonde seemed to be pretty persistent with the name.

"Alright then, Clara. How about introducing your little friend to us?" Sarah gestured towards Tsuna who immediately stiffened. Being gestured at had its bad sides while being imprisioned by crazy people who obviously liked torturing their captives.

Lyn curiously looked at Tsuna and sent a sympathetic smile at Tsuna before she spoke up. "He is Tsuna Jyuudaime. My classmate actually. I think you can see that we're wearing pretty much the same uniforms."

That caused three people to curiously look at her. First of all, Sarah. For the first time ever since she had seen the girl, she realized that she was wearing strange clothes. Actually, the uniform that Lyn was having on was pretty much in really really bad condition as in full of holes, lacerated and dirtied with blood around small cuts and bruises she had. Sarah noticed that the emblem though, was similar to the uniform that Tsuna was wearing. It confused her, but Lyn wasn't lying. Tsuna's uniform was in far better condition than hers at least.

As for the male torturer in the room, he had a different reaction, though he couldn't stop staring at Lyn in confusion. He never heard of schools having so… exposing uniforms. He wasn't complaining. He did have what to see.

The third person looking at Lyn in confusion was Tsuna. He had no idea what Lyn said, except for the 'Tsuna Jyuudaime' part. That he could recognize anywhere. Honestly speaking, he was glad that she said it in typical Japanese accent. Though what he wasn't glad for… was that she said something that could possibly reveal maybe even too much about them or who knows what. Just why did she have to call him Jyuudaime? He said it many times! He didn't want to be a mafia boss!

"Okay…" woman unsurely nodded. "What is your relation to Vongola?" she then asked.

Lyn went pale within a second and lowered her head in attempt to think of an answer. If she'd say the truth, that could buy them some time. If she'd lie, it could also buy them time. Though, if she'd tell the truth, she'd be constantly tortured for 'the truth' as the two idiots that are interrogating them are not exactly the type to believe that time travelling is possible. On the other hand, inventing story of some sort could be helpful… as much as complete denial. Yeah. That should work.

"Vongola… what?"

She should've seen the kick that came at her stomach. The pain she felt was a type of pain as if she was just sliced in half. It wasn't a normal kick. Not at all. That one was something far more scarier than Lyn had ever felt in her entire life. She couldn't help it but scream. In the midway, her mouth filled with blood that she started coughing out. Only way she had to make sure that her lower body was still attached to her upper one were her eyes. Only her eyes were the proof that she was still in one piece even though she felt as if she lost the lower body. Tears formed in her eyes when she heard Tsuna screaming her name. _Oh well, time for plan B._

"Damn it! I'll never have children like this, you damn bitch!" Lyn screamed, still trying to comprehend the pain. "For crying out loud… how can a woman of age twenty-eight plus hit a simple fifteen-years old girl!" she snapped. The more she was talking, the more she was forgetting about the pain. Twenty-eight plus seemed to have disturbed Sarah though.

Tsuna, who was watching everything in horror, could only keep on watching. It felt wrong… why did they have to torture Lyn just because she could speak Italian? Why did they have to do it so hard to make her scream like that… it made no sense at all. What did she ever do to them? Tears formed in his eyes when she started yelling and snapping at the woman that kicked her. _At least… at least she still has her spirit…_ that was the only comfort that Tsuna could find.

"Then how about you start telling us the truth?" Sarah sweetly asked.

Lyn rolled her eyes. She took the chance to look down on her stomach. She was quite surprised to see that her uniform was still in one piece though she was sure that she'll have one really, really deep scar there, since there seemed to be some blood on her white shirt.

Brunet, the second torturer watched in pleasure, leaning himself over Tsuna's shoulder and pressuring Tsuna's shoulder so hard that Tsuna had a feeling that the guy will break it. He winced as silently as he could at the pain, hoping that it'll stop.

"Haha… this will be a funny show to watch," man whispered in Tsuna's ear, oblivious to the fact that Tsuna couldn't understand. He was gesturing towards Sarah and Lyn. Though even if Tsuna couldn't understand, he was sure that it was bad. Very bad.

"The truth… huh?" Lyn panted, happy that pain was slowly becoming dull.

"Yes, the truth. Otherwise I can't promise that you'll get out of here in one piece." Sarah replied, keeping on a nonchalant tune.

Lyn rolled her eyes again, lowering her head. "All right…" she silently said. Sarah had to struggle to hear it. "Vongola Primo… saved us."

"Oh… I wonder if that's another one of your other lies…" Sarah said softly, taking out something from her sleeve.

Lyn sighed. "Well, even if I say that it's not a lie, you wouldn't exactly believe me… am I right?" Smile that she saw on Sarah's face told her enough.

"Yes." Sarah started playing with a small knife that she took out from her sleeve. "That's why I was interested in seeing how much you can lie. And if you were telling the truth, only to confirm it." She sweetly smiled, letting the knife slowly pass down Lyn's face, creating a small and thin cut that started bleeding like insane. "This was just to check if it was still sharp," she wined at Lyn who did her best to ignore the pain on her cheek.

"L-Lyn…" Tsuna breathed out. No… not again that Lyn was feeling pain. Luckily, in Japanese pronunciation, Lyn sounded like Rin. Though it did make Sarah and her companion turn and give a skeptic look to Tsuna.

"I'm fine…" Lyn said in Japanese. "They won't kill me since they know that we're related to Vongola and they need information… though I'm not so sure about the torture-" Knee that got stuck in her stomach made her shut up and cough out more blood.

Tsuna groaned, realizing that she kept lying to them whatever she was saying. Once again, he was sure that he needed to do something to get them out of there quickly. He had a feeling that Lyn won't be capable of even standing once they're finished with her. He tried shaking the chains and set himself free, but once again it was futile. "L-Lyn… just tell them the truth and they'll set us free!" he cried. He couldn't stand seeing her hurt, nor he could stand suspense of not knowing who was shot earlier.

Lyn let out an empty chuckle. "Seriously… Dame-Tsuna… who would believe that travelling through time is possible?"

"Alright, enough with secret communication," the brunet guy said, strongly pinching Tsuna's back with his long nails. Tsuna screamed from the sudden pain and started panting. It was nothing big and he felt stupid for being such a pussy and a weakling… but the pain was too hard for him to take. It was even harder because of the pulsating headache he was having.

Lyn's eyes widened. "Hurt him once more and I swear, I won't tell you any single thing even if you do kill me!" She wasn't stupid. Maybe the ways she was doing things were, but they were effective, in some way. Pain would come either way… only in probably different ways. But one thing she couldn't let. Vongola Decimo must not be hurt because of her.

Sarah's and her buddy's eyes narrowed at Lyn in irritation. They were pretty much sure that she was not going to talk either way. Though, burnet had other plans. He smirked at Sarah.

"You know, I think I have a better idea than your torture plans," he said.

Sarah's eyebrows went up to the half of her forehead. "I'm listening.

Brunet moved away from Tsuna's shoulder, and Tsuna sagged in relief. His shoulder was pretty much numb already. Anyways, Brunet approached Sarah, whispering something to her ear. Lyn was quite vary of it, seeing that she experienced it first hand how horrible those two were. On the other hand, when she turned to look at Tsuna, she almost screamed in surprise. Luckily, she stopped herself before it was too late.

Tsuna was sure that he and Lyn were in more than just a simple trouble. They didn't know where they were, and people who they didn't know of were torturing them mercilessly. He was sure that he needed to do something, though he wasn't strong enough. His thoughts concentrated only on how they were going to survive and it all summed it up on the need for dying will… strength that was not exactly as limited as his normal side was. But he never tried it out before. Sure, he remembered that he was being forced to try it, but he always failed. But what better time than now to try again? Even if he fails, he'll at least try. There was nothing to lose.

_Flick…_

He closed his eyes, trying to imagine an orange flame that was burning in his head. When that worked, he tried to reach for it… but it was too far. He tried again, but the flame actually slipped right from his hands.

_Flick…_

No… it was too far for Tsuna to reach it… he couldn't.

He tried reaching for that flame once again, but the flame was just so far, and it was trying to get away. _No… I need it! I-I have to get out of here! I must get everyone back to the future! I have to escape and help Lyn…! I have to defeat these strange people… I have to do it… with my Dying Will!_

But it failed once again. The flame was getting smaller and smaller. As if it was the effect of Tsuna's thoughts that was making the flame get weaker.

"_Don't try to act cool, Tsuna. You're not the sort to be a hero, are you?"  
>"Eh?"<br>"Your reasons for enduring this training – to bring everyone to the past, or to defeat your enemies – they're not you at all. Your feelings were a lot more simple at the time, weren't they?"  
>"At the time…?"<br>"The time when you first ignited the flame in the ring. What were you doing then?"  
>"Eh… that was… I was only protecting …"<br>"Good answer! Don't you have people you want to protect now? Haven't you decided on that?"_

What was that voice… that memory? It didn't make any sense. Tsuna couldn't remember. Who was he trying to protect? Who was he even talking to? It didn't make any sense… But it wasn't the same. Tsuna knew how to ignite the flame in the ring. Why was he remembering such things at such crucial moment… he had no time… he had to save Lyn and then go to find Gokudera quickly… Gokudera was in danger, that's what his intuition was trying to tell him… He had no time for confusing memories that are not even complete!

But it appeared to be wrong, once again. The flame he was trying to catch got even smaller. Was he really that weak? Was he really good for nothing? Was he really so incapable of helping his friends? The realization hit him. Maybe he was a Dame Tsuna… Dame, dame, dame Tsuna…

But then again, why was his intuition nagging him about that memory he saw? Once again, it was replaying itself in his head, making him sick. Why couldn't he hear the name that he himself said…? Why couldn't he remember who he was talking to? Why was that last question ringing in his head so loud that it was becoming painful?

_Do you want me to answer it… is that what you want? _Tsuna desperately asked to no one. He didn't get his reply, but not like he was expecting one. But then again… maybe the question wasn't… that stupid. After all, who did he want to protect? It definitely weren't only Gokudera and Lyn… he wanted to protect others as well. He didn't want them to be caught… but they were on safe, weren't they?

_Flick…_

Flame that he was trying to catch grew a little and Tsuna's hopes rose up. The flame was slowly reaching the size of half than his original one… the first one he was trying to catch, but that was better than nothing. Small dose of hope enlightened Tsuna. With this… he might even be able to help them… if he were able to catch it.

_Flick…_

The flame grew in size even more. Tsuna tried to reach for it. Maybe positive thoughts were what he needed? Maybe that was it. No more, no less. With his arm swing, he managed to even touch the orange flame that was getting slower and slower, or was it Tsuna who was getting faster.

_Don't you have people you want to protect now?_

Whoever spoke those words, Tsuna was grateful. It made him realize something important. Something that was the sole reason that he was even who he was.

_Everyone…_

"What the-?" Sarah stepped back in shock, staring at Tsuna. There was such overwhelming aura coming from him that she couldn't understand. It was like there was a flame trying to be ignited with too much force so the attempts kept failing. Sarah was sure of that after seeing the spark appearing four times on the strange ring that Tsuna had. Four, irregular times. Sarah immediately turned to Lyn who looked as surprised as much as Sarah was.

"Tsuna…" Lyn silently called, despise seeing that his eyes were closed. She literally gasped once his both hands tightened in fists and the orange flame burst out of both of his fists, as well as his forehead. "Tsuna!" Lyn shouted, in awe from all the strength she could feel. She was told that Vongola Decimo is amazingly strong… but that was the first, very first time that she actually got to see it.

Sarah and brunet stepped back from Tsuna, watching his every move. His eyes were still closed when he tried dragging the chains, but that wasn't exactly a successful attempt. So Tsuna did the most logical thing. He increased the intensity of his flame. As the Sky flame could actually release heat… and under certain pressure, it was strange and utmost shocking to the observers, but the chains were melting… and not chaining Tsuna anymore.

He opened his eyes, well aware that he won't be able to stay in Hyper mode for longer than a minute or two utmost. He sent a weak smile at Lyn, and she smiled back. Before Sarah or brunet got anything to do, she was free. Chains that were immobilizing her also ended up being melted. It did burn her too a little, but she didn't show any signs of pain, until all the pressure was on her legs.

"Go," Tsuna said in his deeper, more determined voice, helping her to stand normally. "I'll guard your back."

Lyn only quickly nodded, using the opening she got on getting out of the room. Despise her knees that were shaking from the sudden weight put on them, she managed to get away, and confusedly start observing where she was. "What the… fuck…?"

Back inside, Tsuna turned to Sarah and brunet who both had careful faces on, both ready for a fight. His time was running out and Tsuna knew it well. He just hoped that the time he had will be enough.

* * *

><p>"W-wa… weren't you on my side?" Paolo stuttered, taking a step back from Gokudera. The teen was reminding him of G way too much. The jerk didn't have a kid… right?<p>

Gokudera rolled his eyes, already infused with hatred for the man on the ground. "Who the fuck would be on your side? Bastard… I should fill you with dynamites right now!" And even before he finished the sentence, bunch of dynamites were already prepared in his hands. He wondered whether to make the man swallow them or just to stick them all to the idiot's back. Gokudera scowled. Yeah. Making the guy swallow it should do the trick.

Ricardo's eyes slightly brightened. Maybe not everything was lost. But a chough from the side made him change his mind. G was still in danger. Apparently, Gokudera realized the same, since he gave up on the dynamites and kicked Paolo in the face, knocking him out. Gokudera then quickly approached to G.

"Hell… we need something here, quickly," he snorted and jumped on his feet. There was only one thing he could remember of, which meant that he needed to have Ricardo guard G for a minute or so. "Look, press there quickly," Gokudera said, showing to Ricardo where to press the wound. If he remember well from the textbook, that should help G survive a few minutes longer. After all, the red-head was on the ground for too long already.

Ricardo did what he was told without objection. When Gokudera suddenly moved away, it confused him. "Whoa, where the fuck are you going?"

"I'm going to get help here, wrath-head!" Gokudera blurted out before he was out of the living room. He could only think of one person to help in the case, and fortunately, that same person just seemed to be going up the stairs.

"Oi, Lawn-head!" he shouted, making the said man to turn around, and Yamamoto followed the movement.

"Oh, hey, Gokudera! I thought you and Tsuna were-"

But Yamamoto's sentence was stopped in half when Gokudera grabbed Ryohei by the collar and dragged him over to the living room, while in the meantime throwing a rude 'shut up' at Yamamoto. Without any better idea of what to do or even any single idea of what was going on, Yamamoto followed them.

"What happened to G to the extreme?" Ryohei asked, dumbfounded on the situation after seeing G on the ground… in a pool of blood, with Ricardo next to him, trying to stop the bleeding. Not that he knew who Ricardo was… he actually thought that it was… "Oi, oi! Xanxus! What are you doing here to the extreme? And you look young…"

That seemed to have a bad effect on both, Gokudera and Ricardo so both of them snapped at him. "Just shut the fuck up and heal/help him!" they screamed at the same time.

"Don't extremely yell at me, octopus-head!" Ryohei snapped back, but called out for Garyuu to give him a hand in healing G. Ricardo watched with wide eyes how Sun flames started fixing G's wound.

In the meantime, Yamamoto turned to Gokudera, rather confused. "Eh, Gokudera… where is Tsuna?"

"Jyuudaime sent me to help to the whoever was wounded here and went to save the brat on his own," Gokudera replied stiffly, with his arms crossed.

"I see…" Yamamoto said with a smile, but the smile disappeared right away when he saw G. "And… what happened here?" he asked, feeling sort of uneasy. And Gokudera was actually answering his questions without extra yelling. That was new for the baseball player.

"That bastard," Gokudera didn't even bother to show towards unconscious Paolo, "shot at the pink-head. Wrath-head wanted to kill him but I interfered and we went to help the pink-head. Clear enough for you, baseball-freak?"

Yamamoto scratched the back of his head. Other than his own nickname, he couldn't recognize any other, but it wasn't so hard to guess what happened. Yamamoto only wondered who the two unknown black-haired people in the room were, but he resisted from asking. Gokudera looked too irritated to explain. Oh, and scratch the 'Gokudera was actually answering his questions without extra yelling' part. Yamamoto was only hearing things.

"Well, I've done what I could to the extreme…" Ryohei murmured, wrapping Ricardo's ripped shirt around G's chest. "I couldn't extremely heal him because of the bullet inside, but this should extremely help to stop the bleeding."

"At least you can be useful for something as well, Lawn-head…" Gokudera said, still in stiff position. "Get him to the carriage. He said that the guy… Marcus or however, won't wait for us the whole time. Before he goes he should at least head with the pink-head."

Ricardo nodded, deciding to go as well, remembering Uncle Marcus. Ryohei shrugged and agreed as well, and with the help of Ricardo they started carrying G. Ricardo was lucky that Giotto was so annoying to teach him to speak Japanese. Now he saw why was it so useful, but as in purest honesty, he never even dreamt of his Japanese turning useful in situation such as that, but yeah, he was grateful.

"I have a bad feeling about Jyuudaime, though," Gokudera muttered once the three were gone. Yamamoto questionably looked at him. "Jyuudaime's taking too long," he explained.

Yamamoto blinked. That could as well be correct, if it was coming from Gokudera's mouth. "How about we go and look for him then?" the Rain guardian suggested.

Gokudera sneered. He hoped that Yamamoto won't think of it as a friendly statement, because it wasn't, but Gokudera was now a bit more observant about what his boss was saying. Stupid baseball-idiot had stated quite a smart thing, after a while. "I was waiting for you to say that, baseball-freak!"

* * *

><p>Just as Reborn was hoping, the moment Verde got into Ninth's private room and attacked the people inside of it, Glo Xinia used the chance to get out of there through the secret passageway. What Glo Xinia wasn't expecting though, was that Reborn will be waiting for him there. Glo Xinia was expecting even less that Reborn will have his Leon-gun pointed in his head.<p>

"A coward. That's what you are," Reborn said in dark voice, tilting his fedora to hide his eyes. "That what you always were, and always will be, Glo Xinia."

Glo Xinia swallowed hard, concentrating to what he knew that was about to happen. He was ignoring the words Reborn said to him, and stated his own words. "Oh, isn't that the mighty Sun Arcobaleno, Reborn. I wonder what brings you here?"

Reborn sneered. "I think you would know that perfectly well." His gun was still aimed at Glo Xinia's head. He found it actually hilarious. He remembered the Glo Xinia in the future who had attacked the Vongola Mist guardian, and he was looking at the one in front of him now. Difference was enormous. Guy still looked as eccentric as always, but Reborn found the present Glo Xinia to be a, best word to describe, pathetic idiot. Or was it Reborn who was missing something there. How exactly that fool took over the Todd family, Reborn could only wonder.

"I think I don't, actually."

That statement irritated Reborn over the line. He moved away his gun and grabbed Glo Xinia's wrist, breaking it within a second. If he hated something, then that were idiots and weaklings pretending to mess with him. Not that he really hated them, he was just annoyed and he needed someone to torture. It's been a while since he had done it the last time.

Glo Xinia gasped when his wrist cracked. _Curse you, Vongola bastards! First that damn girl, kicking me when all I did was caressing her cheek… and now this stupid… Arcobaleno broke my wrist! They will pay!_

"I don't think you know," Reborn said in warning voice, twitching Glo Xinia's broken wrist even more, making him yelp in pain, "but I can read your mind."

Glo Xinia paled. That sounded bad. No; It sounded very bad.

"Now, if you'd answer some of my questions, I might let you live with only a few bones broken," Reborn announced. He started dragging Glo Xinia despise the purple/red-head trying to object, but since Reborn was dragging him for already painfully broken wrist, Glo Xinia had no choice but to agree and follow… all the way to the only place where he'd never want to come in.

"Get. In."

Reborn's voice was more of an ordering one than ever, and Glo Xinia had a feeling that he'll start feeling Reborn's wrath if he doesn't listen. Not that he already didn't feel zero point zero one percent. He had a feeling that a one hundred percent one would be deadly. But the interrogation rooms that once belonged to Alaude? The first Cloud guardian? Even if her were insane, Glo Xinia wouldn't walk in there, ever.

So all Reborn had to do was push him in.

That worked unexpectedly great. Glo Xinia was right in, and Reborn closed the doors behind them. He never imagined using that room for anything such as his own interrogations, but as in honestly, he was entertained, and partly happy as of why Alaude's interrogation room is so scary. The answer was simple. No, there were no crazy torturing devices or any things that could actually injure anyone. Room actually had one and only one object in it.

A tripod.

Very small one, since he wasn't even reaching Reborn's heights. But it was sure that it wasn't there for Reborn to whack Glo Xinia on the head with it. Though Reborn had a slight idea that he could make use of the thing. Seeing Glo Xinia standing on the head on top of the tripod with his hands as only support, Reborn couldn't help but smile at the thought.

"Let's start, then."

* * *

><p>"What the… fuck?" Lyn confusedly observed the area around her. She could've sworn that she was in that place before, though it looked strangely unfamiliar. Walls were still made just like the rest of the ones in Capelli mansion along with the emblems on them, but the confusing thing was… the doors right across her were completely the same as the ones she had just walked out of. Actually, each door looked exactly the same, on equal distance from the other one.<p>

It was just like a freaking maze in the house. Lyn made a few unsure steps, turning into the first hallway that she ran on, but condition in that hallways was just as same as the previous one was. She kept going down those hallways until she kneeled down from all the exhaustion.

"Where… the hell am I?" she asked out loud, not expecting for the answer to come. Not that it came either way. She looked from one side to another. It was all the freaking same! She had no idea from where she came, nor did she have any clue which way to go. It was just a maze. A maze that she just got lost in.

"Hell… if this is not illusion, than the creep has whole lot of money… bastard," she hissed. But it wasn't an illusion. As a fellow illusionist, she could tell with no problem whether it was illusion or not. She sighed, deciding to rub her stomach a little. She had no idea how it managed to stand all the kicks it received and doesn't lose it's flat shape.

"Curse the damn bitch if I never get a son," she frowned, clutching her fists. A little bit of rest would do good for her.

* * *

><p>"Not here!" Gokudera exclaimed, slamming the doors with utmost strength he could. He and Yamamoto checked every single room in the attic, and all they found was that one door were broken, and that room had a few drops of blood around, but nothing else to help them find Tsuna or Lyn. It was like they were swallowed or something. Not even could they feel their presence.<p>

That was not good, if Gokudera and Yamamoto were to be asked. They knew Tsuna would've left some clue, no matter what happened, but this was bad. He wasn't there, and things were getting out of control. What should've been only a rush to save two illusionist girls turned to be something far worse than that.

"It's okay, Gokudera…" Yamamoto nervously tapped Gokudera's shoulder. "I'm sure Tsuna's around here somewhere…" he muttered, trying to make the Storm guardian relax a little, but all he got was a punch that almost hit his face. Luckily Yamamoto had good reflexes.

"Shut the fuck up, baseball-freak!" Gokudera exclaimed, dark shadows appearing around his eyes. "You don't get it, do you…" he started a bit more silently. "Jyuudaime… wouldn't go missing like this without any clue! Something must've happened, baseball-idiot! And that something definitely has to do with the blood in that room!"

Yamamoto sighed, falling silent at that. He had no idea what to say. He knew Gokudera was right about saying that something is badly wrong, but Yamamoto also knew that another deal was pretty messy too, and he couldn't just close his eyes to that. Sound coming from behind both of them made them turn around. Their eyes narrowed at the sight of a man with his face full of scars and long hair tied in the back. Gokudera frowned. He recognized that man.

"What do we have here…?" Manolo asked, smirking. He too was surprised with suddenly running on the two intruders, but he managed to stay composed. Too bad Yamamoto couldn't understand Italian.

Yamamoto found it confusing, seeing Gokudera already taking out his dynamites. Gokudera growled something silently in Japanese, most probably directed at Yamamoto, but the baseball-player didn't understand it. He couldn't hear it as well as he thought he could.

"Where is Decimo?" Gokudera growled in Italian, his dynamites prepared to be thrown at Manolo. He knew that it was that guy who was at fault for Jyuudaime's disappearance, and he was going to make him pay.

"Who?" Manolo asked, curious. For a second, he thought that the silver-head and the dynamites were familiar, but then it occurred to him.

_The branch that Tsuna and Gokudera were on suddenly cracked, making them both fall right in front of Manolo and his unit. Manolo eyed the two strangely dressed teens._

"_Now how did you get here, brats?" he asked in Italian, with a smirk playing on his face. Tsuna gulped, looking back at Manolo with a scared face on. Manolo's eyes narrowed at the two teens, as the brunette one suddenly started saying words so quickly, that Manolo couldn't even understand. It sounded like 'I'm sorry', but the accent was so bad that Manolo wasn't sure if it was it._

"_A Japanese?" Manolo blinked, recognizing the accent. Bunch of his men prepared for a fight._

"_I'll protect you, Jyuudaime!" Gokudera shouted, stepping in front of Tsuna, ready to fight._

Manolo started chuckling. So it were those two that had escaped him a few days earlier while he was trying to take out Vongola's Sun guardian? Then the boy in the dungeon that he just left was the one with the Sky flames… Giotto's son. Manolo stopped chuckling, not in least bothered by the looks of hate that he was getting from Gokudera. But then again, something did catch his attention.

"Decimo?" Manolo questioned. Gokudera paid no attention.

"Eh… Gokudera, you know this guy?" Yamamoto asked in Japanese, not exactly sure what was going on. Whatever it was, Gokudera seemed to be very, very pissed off.

"Get away from here, baseball-freak and go find Jyuudaime," Gokudera hissed at Yamamoto, not averting his cold gaze from Manolo. "I'll take care of this fool."

Yamamoto blinked. So yeah, Gokudera did know who the guy is. Baseball player's face stiffened and his eyes only slightly narrowed, when he gave out a weak 'okay' and went to look for Tsuna. He was hoping that Gokudera knew well what he was going.

In the meantime, Manolo observed the situation, reminding himself to go and learn Japanese with the first chance he gets. After all, Primo… and G both had children? Brats must've been living in Japan, so no, there was nothing Manolo could do about it. And the black-haired one that just left, he reminded Manolo of Asari. Now that was interesting.

"I hope you're not as weak as you look," Manolo said mockingly, deciding to leave his previous thoughts for later.

Gokudera clutched the dynamite in his hands tighter. "You bet I'm not."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so I gave you a longer chapter now since I don't think I'll be able to update before the next weekend -curses school-<strong>

**Um, anyways, I hope I didn't drag the part with Tsuna and his flame for too long... Thanks for reading, everyone!**


	14. Gokudera Hayato vs Manolo Capelli

"I hope you're not as weak as you look," Manolo said mockingly.

Gokudera clutched the dynamite in his hands tighter. "You bet I'm not!"

"We'll see about that." Manolo's face turned serious and he took out something that Gokudera was fairly familiar with. A revolver. Manolo sneered at Gokudera, seeing not-so-entertained look on his face. "What? You think I have time to waist on a brat such as yourself?"

Gokudera twitched. "Don't ever call me brat, you Scar-face!"

Fortunately, Gokudera had good reflexes. Not as good as Yamamoto's… but good enough to help him dodge the bullet that Manolo fired at him. Actually, Gokudera felt partly disappointed. Manolo seemed to be a strong person, but if he were to fight Gokudera with a simple _revolver_… it's very unlikely that Gokudera will even get a scratch. And so far, it was true. The bullet fired at Gokudera missed him completely.

"I have to give it to you. Even if I've already seen your skill, seems like you're a lot faster than I thought at first," Manolo praised.

"Che… it was you who thought I was slow."

Another bullet was fired from the gun, once again, missing Gokudera as he only moved for a step. The bomber twitched. _Just what the hell am I even waiting for…? _

Realizing that waiting would sincerely do no good, Gokudera started his offensive. Without dynamites involved. Scar-face wasn't worth it. Gokudera swooped on Manolo without waiting, with one hand snatching the revolver and throwing it away, and with another one giving him a punch. Manolo, however, moved along with the punch to reduce the damage. There was no need for a gun. He used the chance he got to kick Gokudera in the gut, and then spin-kick him in the chest, which sent Gokudera flying through the wall, straight in one of the empty rooms in the attic.

"Hm, I was expecting more of you," Manolo rubbed the red bump on his cheek that was caused by Gokudera's punch. _Though the brat does have a strong punch… Fortunately for me, there's no way for him to survive what just hit him._

Manolo dusted his clothes, looking around to find where Gokudera threw his revolver away, though he couldn't exactly get a sight of it anywhere. "Stupid brat…" he hissed. "I can't go looking for it now. There are other damn intruders to take care of." He scowled, turning towards the broken wall of one of the rooms. He was hoping that the brat was dead, otherwise, his mood was going to get really bad.

If his memory was serving him well, the other intruder, the Asari-look-alike, went over to the staircase on the opposite side, so Manolo headed over there as well. He did have more important work to do, such as interrogating the two that were caught in attempt to escape, but it's not like the matter at hand wasn't important. He could add the Asari-look-alike to list of people to be tortured. That would surely be interesting.

"Take this!"

Manolo slightly turned his head, but it was too late. Dynamite fell down near his feet, suddenly causing a big explosion that Manolo barely saved his feet from. _Impossible! _He waited for a minute for the smoke to clear itself, just to find that same silver-haired brat frowning at him. Though, Manolo couldn't understand where the strange glasses, and dynamite-shipment over Gokudera's torso, around his waist and legs came from, Oh, and the shield-look-alike thing on his right hand. But one thing was sure. The thing around his waist had Vongola written on it. Definitely G's son.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're still alive. That kick wasn't exactly one of my stronger ones," Manolo muttered, not really happy about the situation.

"Che… and you even call that a kick?" Gokudera retorted. Seeing that Manolo's reaction changed from unhappy hiss (too silent for him to hear) to a snarl, he was sure that enough time was wasted. "Let's get this over with. Rocket bomb, version X!"

A few dynamites found their way towards Manolo. After they exploded, Gokudera was only able to see dust from the destroyed walls and smoke caused by the lone explosion. As they were clearing, they were slowly revealing a shape of a standing man, on which Gokudera automatically scowled.

"I had enough!" Manolo exclaimed, rage obvious in his eyes. His forearms had traces of explosion on them, making it an obvious sign that he used them to protect himself from receiving any greater damage than a few scratches. In his dark eyes, Gokudera could swear to see something that looked like a weakly flickering flame, reflecting rage. Manolo seemed to seriously have enough of it. He spread his arms, in each of his palms forming small flaming balls.

"W-what the? You bastard can also use a flame of Wrath?" Gokudera exclaimed.

It wasn't such a good time for asking questions, since the small flame balls seemed to be growing bigger. Manolo forcefully collided his hands in front of his chest, at the same time making the balls merge and drastically increase in size. Force of the balls was creating strong wind that was even reaching Gokudera.

"You. Are done for it. BRAT!" Manolo shouted, releasing the ball of Wrath to strike at Gokudera in high speed, causing a major explosion. Manolo victoriously smirked as he as well was pushed away by the lone force of his attack. _Tch… this was my strongest ever. I guess the old man was right when he said that this flame or whatever is fed with rage. Even if the brat survived the last time… not that he'll survive it this time!_

Manolo started panting, exhausted from all the energy he used to force out that one attack. Smirk that was on his face started dropping as a behind the smoke that was clearing up, he could perceive a shape of a standing person. _The brat survived that…? What the fuck?_

As smoke completely cleared up, it revealed a single loop in human size. It was pushed back for a meter or so from it's original location, judging by the traces on the floor, but what Manolo was surprised with wasn't the loop. No. It was the person behind the loop, standing as if he was going to storm at him.

"My turn now, scar-face!"

* * *

><p>Even though he had million options, Reborn didn't have as much as time as he needed. Although his mind was filled with torture ideas, such as breaking each bone in Glo Xinia's body, one in a minute, he had just too little time, and too much information to get, so he decided to chose the basic way of gathering information.<p>

No wonder that Alaude was only having only a small tripod in the entire torture room. There was no need for anything else, Reborn concluded.

"You have many questions to answer, Glo Xinia," Reborn said, placing Leon on his fedora. He wasn't going to use his pet for such horrible stuff. A small pocket knife could do great. He made Leon watch too much with the previous target.

"As if! Even this… this kidnapping! No matter what you do, I won't talk!" Glo Xinia blurted out, almost breaking into laughter, trying to ignore the pain caused by Reborn stepping on his broken wrist. How did such a small creature had such strength, Glo Xinia didn't know. _What is an Arcobaleno anyway? I remember that guy saying something about strongest babies… Well, this one sure lives to its reputation._

Reborn frowned. _Like I have time dealing with this idiot. _"You're eye's not twitching."

Glo Xinia stopped his failure of laugh, now looking at Reborn with his eyebrows going high up into his forehead. "What?"

Reborn smirked, cheered up about the sudden drawing attention on the other side. He showed his pocket knife to Glo Xinia, slowly bringing it closer and closer to his right eye.

"W-what are you doing?" Glo Xinia asked, moving away his head a little, but Reborn then had Leon wrap around his broken wrist, tightening around it. Glo Xinia winced, holding back his painful cry as much as he could.

"I'm a hitman," Reborn simply said, stopping the knife on a millimeter away from Glo Xinia's orb. The mentioned one didn't dare to even move, in fear that Reborn will stab his eye.

"J-j-just… just not eyes…" he cried through his gritted teeth. "J-j-j-j-just n-n-not the eyes…"

"So, how about sharing some information? How does that sound now?"

"A-anything… anything! J-just don't… don't touch my eyes!" Glo Xinia cried. Unconsciously, his left eye started twitching like insane. It was probably fear.

Reborn smirked, satisfied with the outcome. _Appears that the bastard is attached to his eyes pretty much. Oh well, that shortens the thing._ "Alright then. It appears that Vongola Nono and his guardians went missing. Would you happen to know what happened to them?" He made sure to keep the knife near enough of Glo Xinia's eye while waiting for the answer. It was having quite a good effect on the pink-head.

"I-I know nothing about them!" Glo Xinia stuttered. "G-Genkishi! G-Genkishi was the one who went to handle them!" Knife approaching to his eye made him say a bit more, though.

"And Decimo?"

"D-De-Decimo?" Glo Xinia blinked in horror. "N-No one should remember him! No one!" he started stuttering even more. "E-Even I! All I know is that… that they were sent to past… by some ritual or something that Genkishi did! T-they were never meant to come b- no, it was never meant for anyone to remember them!" he shouted, twitching his head away from small knife that approached him even more.

"Genkishi did the ritual?" Reborn's eyes narrowed. Memories hit him.

_"We have erased their existence. It is understandable that you still have knowledge of them existing somewhere, even though you -__cough__- can't remember… but after forty-eight hours, no one will know anything regarding of them. Vongola Decimo and his guardians… it'll be as if they never existed! Nothing shall be known!"_

_Reborn frowned. Wasn't it already like that? Wasn't he the only one actually aware that Decimo and his guardians existed? Or maybe… someone else also knows?_

_"Tell me how to get them back," Reborn hissed._

_The man started laughing hysterically. "You can never do that, Arcobaleno!" He kept laughing. "Unless if you want to destroy the time itself!"_

_Before Reborn got to do anything, there was a short flash of light, sound of a gunshot and then sound of the gun falling on the ground. Reborn stepped back from the person lying on that couch. He frowned. He got no crucial information and his only source decided to kill himself by shooting himself in the head before he could do anything._

Frown on Reborn's face deepened. "Explain that," he hissed, seeing that Glo Xinia wasn't really eager to answer. _'We'… I was thinking that the point of the 'we' referred to the entire Todd family… but if I'm correct now… _Reborn was starting to get a really bad feeling about Aria.

"Y-yes…" Glo Xinia muttered. "Genkishi… he had a subordinate… someone whose help he said that he'll need. In the end, he said that for the ritual to work, his subordinate had to die… otherwise _they_ wouldn't be pleased!"

"They?" Reborn asked, almost pressing the knife against Glo Xinia's orb.

"I don't know! I don't know!" Glo Xinia shouted, tilting his head on side and shutting his eye. "I don't know… I don't know… I don't know…"

Reborn back away his knife. He was sure… no… he was certain that the idiot in front of his feet wasn't lying. "Leon…" the small chameleon released Glo Xinia's wrist, jumping over to his hand and straight away turning into a phone that Reborn took. He walked out of the room, making sure to lock the door behind him, and he started making a call. He ignored the shouts of Glo Xinia to release him. He wasn't crazy to do that.

"We've got a problem," Reborn said after someone picked up the phone. "Glo Xinia was only a bait. The bastard knows nothing except for stuff that we already know. There were some additional information to get out of him, but nothing priory useful."

"And what exactly do you want me to do?"

"Find Aria, now. I'm thinking that this whole thing is just a set up to get a hold of her pacifier," Reborn said, his face darkening. "And we completely fell for it…"

* * *

><p>"Faster! Faster! I don't think he'll hold much longer! He's sweating like insane!" Ricardo yelled over to Marcus who was riding the carriage. He was tilted over G, wiping away the sweat with a handkerchief which Marcus gave to them when they suddenly burst out of the woods with injured G. For an hour already, he was forcing the horses to go faster than ever towards Vongola mansion in order to save the Vongola Storm guardian.<p>

"Understand please, master Ricardo! The horses are going as fast as they can! We should be in Vongola mansion soon enough!" Marcus replied, sweating down himself. For the first time ever did he see any of Vongola guardians in such bad condition. His natural instincts for saving lives, since he used to be a guard in Capelli mansion, were forcing him to speed up.

"OI! Make the horses run extremely fast!" Ryohei shouted in typical Japanese, frustrated because his two companions were talking in Italian, and he _knew _it that they could speak Japanese.

"Master Ryohei! We can go no faster than we already are!" Marcus exclaimed, not knowing whether to tell him that horses were tired or not. But he didn't exactly have a feeling that Ryohei was willing to.

"We extremely can!" Ryohei shouted, stopping for a second to think of a plan. "GARYUU!"

A big kangaroo, wearing strange armor, seemingly appeared out of nowhere, startling Marcus and Ricardo to the core. Ryohei, though, approached him, tapping kangaroo's shoulder.

"Go extreme, Garyuu! We need to extremely speed up this thing!" he roared, forcing Ricardo to cover his ears from the noise. Kangaroo, though, agreed to the request. Garyuu approached to the small window, trying to find a way to make his head go through it.

Ryohei, seeing what Garyuu was aiming for, shrugged it off instantly. "Just break it. We need to extremely hurry up!"

Ricardo and Marcus turned to Ryohei, wide-eyed, but then their heads turned to the kangaroo who roared in response, without any hesitation breaking through the wooden wall of the carriage as if it was air. He roared once again when Sun flames burst out of him, hitting the four horses, that started loudly complaining. However, Garyuu's idea of helping seemed to have worked, and the speed of the running horses had increased as twice as much.

So while the carriage was rolling down the dirt road towards the Vongola mansion in speed probably excelling hundred kilometers per hour, Garyuu and Ryohei were throwing high-fives at each other.

"Extreme job, Garyuu!"

Ricardo rolled his eyes after the kangaroo disappeared, struggling to hold G in one spot because of all the shaking of the carriage while going down the bumpy road.

* * *

><p>"Is he still sleeping?" Asari asked, tilting over a little, trying to have a sneak peak at Giotto's room, but Knuckle was sort of getting in his way.<p>

"Like a baby," Knuckle whispered, moving away from the door (in the mid-way pushing Asari) and silently closing the door. "You know, I was actually thinking that he's been pretending to sleep again. It's extremely good that he's actually sleeping."

"I know, Knuckle," Asari replied. "Now we should just make sure that Lampo and Lambo don't make any unnecessary mess and n-"

The sound of a grenade exploding made both first generation guardians stiffen.

"… noise" Knuckle finished the sentence. He shook his head when sudden crying was heard and then another explosion came. "I'll go take care of that… before Alaude does."

"Sounds good. I might as well come and join with you," Asari added with a nervous smile. Knuckle only shrugged to that and the two headed over in the direction of Lampo's room, form where the noise came. As they were getting closer, they were getting to hear Lampo shouting and crying… and was that someone else whining? Anyways, that made the Rain and Sun guardian exchange worried looks.

Knuckle sighed, opening the doors and entering inside. What he found inside made him gape. Asari, wanting to see what was going on inside, pushed Knuckle in a little, entering in Lampo's room himself. He blinked, meeting the gazes of two different eyes.

"Eh… I didn't know you had a twin, Lampo," Asari broke the utter silence.

Lampo, and the companion next to him, looking oh-so-much like Lampo, only of different hair and eye color, were staring at Asari, wide-eyed, while both of them having one eye closed.

"WE'RE NOT TWINS!" they shouted in union.

"Stop copying me!" Lampo turned over to his companion with tears dwelling in his eyes.

"You stop copying me!" the black-haired boy in cow-printed shirt shouted, also having tears in his eyes.

Knuckle, slowly regaining his pace, separated the two teens that started yelling at accusing each other even more. "Alright now, calm down, calm down…" but that didn't exactly seem to work.

"Um, Lampo…" Asari called. Finally, it made the green-head stop whining and turn to Asari.

"Yes, Asari?" he asked, tears still in the corners of his eyes.

"Where is Lambo?"

"Err… about that…" Lampo started, scratching the back of his head.

"That would be me."

Three heads turned over towards the fourth head. Lampo's copy, actually.

"What?" Knuckle gasped, being the only one sane enough to speak at all. Asari only had a light grin over his face, though not exactly a believable one.

"Yare yare… it appears that my younger self used the bazooka again, Asari-san," the ten-year older Lambo replied. He face-palmed, seeing the puzzled expression on Asari's and Knuckle's and Lampo's face. "The ten-year-bazooka," he started to explain. "Actually, that is-"

The door of Lampo's room broke open, interrupting Lambo's explaining, and the maid ran in. "Master Asari, master Knuckle, come over!" she shouted, looking pale.

"Is there something the matter?" Asari asked. Not ever did he remember seeing the maid so worried.

She quickly nodded, heading over to the big window in the hallway. Shrugging, Knuckle and Asari followed her, while Lampo and Lambo also followed, though slower. The maid pointed a finder at something that was quickly approaching to Vongola mansion, and whatever it was, it was leaving huge cloud of dust behind.

"Holly cow, what is that thing?" Lampo asked. They couldn't even tell the size because of the dust.

"Whatever it is, it'll be in front of the gates in a matter of an extreme second!" Knuckle exclaimed. "I'll go counter it! If something happens, get Giotto!" he added, literally jumping out through the window, breaking the glass since he forgot to open the window.

Lampo face-palmed. "Giotto will now just have more bills to pay…" he muttered silently.

Asari turned towards the first generation Lightning guardian. "More bills?" he repeated with a concerned expression.

"Um… nothing," Lampo quickly shook his hands with a grin. "I said nothing!"

"Lampo…" Asari sighed, tilting his head a little.

Lampo lowered his head. "Cristal vase on the first floor…"

Asari's eyes widened. "You know that Alaude's going to be pissed…" Lampo nodded. Oh he knew it perfectly well.

Anyways, back to Knuckle.

After jumping out through the window, he made a perfect somersault, the ground reaching with his feet. He ran over towards the gate that the guards were slowly opening, but he quickly moved away once something crashed right at it, pushing it along almost reaching the walls of Vongola mansion. Luckily, by then, it stopped moving.

Knuckle's jaw dropped, watching how something… that used to be a main gate of Vongola mansion, fell on the ground in weird shape, revealing two horses that hit straight at the gate. Both horses looked exhausted, so it wasn't that surprising when they crushed on the ground as well. Two horses behind the first two, as well.

But what made Knuckle's jaw drop weren't tired horses. Actually, it was the carriage that they were dragging. There were no words in which Knuckle could describe it. In the place where a carriage driver was supposed to sit, there was no one, and there where the small window was supposed to be was a huge hole. Left wheels of the carriage suddenly broke and with a loud 'thump' the carriage fell diagonally on the left. Left door of the carriage broke open, four people falling out of it.

Knuckle's eyes went wide when he recognized all of them. Marcus, the carriage driver, and Ryohei, his own descendant were lying on their backs, while Ricardo, Giotto's nephew was lying over both of them. On top, just like a cherry on top of the ice cream, was the red-head, G. Marcus and Ricardo were groaning in pain.

"That was extreme!" Ryohei roared, totally forgetting that he was lying on the ground. With Ricardo elbowing him.

"That was not extreme!" Ricardo groaned.

"It was!"

"Was not!"

"Extreme!"

"Was not!"

"OI! IT WAS AN EXTREME RIDE, BAKA XANXUS!"

"IT WAS NOT! AND STOP CALLING ME XAN-whatever…"

It didn't stop until Marcus managed to move away, which made Ricardo slide down and stab his elbow in Ryohei's gut. That's when they both shut up.

"Oh, it is good to see you, master Knuckle," Marcus said, bowing to Knuckle, whose look confusedly passed from Ricardo and Ryohei to Marcus. "Would you mind giving me a hand with master G? I think Master Ricardo and Master Ryohei will make his eardrums snap."

Knuckle blankly nodded, turning his head over to G, who looked unconscious. With the help of Marcus, he casted one of G's arms over his shoulders, while Marcus did the same with the other one.

"I believe it would be the best to take master G to the medical rooms," Marcus pointed out, and Knuckle could only give a blank nod, having no idea of what was actually going on. He nodded to Asari, who was approaching, hoping that Asari will take it as a sign to go and check on the ones outside. Luckily, Asari was smart enough to figure that not-much-of-a-sign.

"Now, master Knuckle," Marcus said, as they put G on the bed in medical rooms, "I believe that you'll have to perform a surgery."

Knuckle turned towards Marcus, his jaw dropping once again. "What?"

Marcus sighed and shook his head. He tilted over G, ripping the shirt that was used to bandage his gunshot wound, and Knuckle gaped, pale in face. Actually, it didn't look like much of a gunshot wound. It was more like a piece of burning red skin that was about to start bleeding, but the size wasn't exactly big, so it had to be a gunshot wound.

"The bullet is still inside. It is only thanks to master Ryohei that master G is still alive," Marcus explained, but there was no need for that. Knuckle was already preparing his tools, reminding himself over and over that he'll have to be careful.

"The wound is extremely infected," he explained it to Marcus who was having a concerned look on his face. "What happened?" Knuckle asked, still in the middle of rushed preparing. "Where are the others?"

Marcus only shrugged. He didn't have an answer to that.

* * *

><p>Tsuna turned to Sarah and brunet who both had careful faces on, both ready for a fight. His time was running out and Tsuna knew it well. He just hoped that the time he had will be enough. Flames on his fists became more intense. His enemies weren't weak, that was sure.<p>

"I guess I'll be the one to start this," Sarah smirked, pushing her buddy away and stepping in front of Tsuna. She wasn't waiting anything. She directly aimed at him, trying to kick him, but Tsuna swiftly dodged it. She tried again and again, but he kept dodging.

Tsuna stopped her fourth attempt to kick him in the middle of the actual hit, and he wasn't letting go of her leg. _This is stupid… I can't hurt… a girl… _Memories of what she did to Lyn kicked him, and he gave up. That was not a girl. It was a monster. He closed his eyes, throwing her away until she hit the wall. He couldn't return it to her the same way as she did to Lyn. That was too cruel, and not something his consciences could bear… but he had to protect himself. His strength was already fading. He couldn't let himself fail. There were too many people he needed to protect.

Sarah hit the wall and then fell on the ground. She grunted, trying to use her elbows as support to get up, but a pat on the shoulder stopped her. She looked to see the brunet with a faithful smile and dark line in his eyes, and she stopped moving.

Brunet moved away from her, turning to Tsuna while growling. Tsuna could see the anger and rage in the man's eyes… almost as strong as the rage Tsuna once saw that was in Xanxus'. Well, not that strong. But close enough.

"Seems like I'll be the one to finish this," the brunet muttered, his scowl disappearing, exchanged with mere admiration. "It's been a while since I fought someone with Sky flames."

Tsuna concentrated on the man's moves. He was already struggling to stay in Hyper mode and drops of sweat were rolling down the side of his face. Whatever the guy said wasn't making Tsuna feel any better. It was possibly making it worse.

Brunet charged at Tsuna, aiming to punch him in the face, but Tsuna successfully blocked the punch in time with one hand. With the other, he blocked the knee that was coming from the side. He trembled, the flame on his forehead slowly dying down. Just before the flame was completely gone, a punch in the face that he didn't manage to stop knocked him out.

* * *

><p>Yamamoto shuddered. He was starting to get a really bad feeling that was uncontrollably forcing him to turn back and go and check on Gokudera. But he still had to find Tsuna too. He didn't want to leave either of them, but he couldn't exactly split himself in two and then go and search for Tsuna and help Gokudera. It really sounded like a great idea… but he head no means to make it happen.<p>

Maybe if he'd return up on the attic, saying that they missed on checking one room… Well, technically, they did miss checking on a room. The room where they found the blood. They didn't even check it twice. But that was just a lousy hope. Yamamoto sighed. He'll just continue looking for Tsuna. Gokudera could take care of himself, he hoped.

Yamamoto continued on running over the third floor, until he noticed something… very familiar. He stopped running, starting to glare into it with confusion. His face widened in a smile. "Roll!"

A small hedgehog let out a sound, that made Yamamoto sure that Roll was happy to see him. He came over to it, patting his head. "Eh… Roll… so if you're here, is Hibari around here as well?" Yamamoto asked. A hedgehog released another happy-sounding sound.

The Rain guardian chuckled. Then it hit him that Roll was standing in the doorway. He looked at the room next to which he was, only to let out a gasp. "O-Oi… Hibari! Isn't that a bit… cruel… thing to do?"

The mentioned Cloud guardian glanced at Yamamoto with a corner of his eye, tossing another one of the guards on the bunch of already beaten up ones. "Why don't you watch your own business, Yamamoto Takeshi?"

Yamamoto let out an empty chuckle. "Haha… I guess that's why Gokudera and I didn't run onto guards when we were looking for Tsuna…" he scratched the back of his head, seeing that Hibari wasn't taking it as funny. "Any luck with finding Lyn?" he asked, wondering if changing the subject would do.

Hibari's eyes narrowed. "What made you think that I was doing your work?"

Yamamoto emptily chuckled again. "Um… nothing, nothing… So, want to give me a hand in looking for Tsuna? He and Lyn are missing."

Hibari raised a brow. _So… herbivores went missing… _"Hn…"

Yamamoto stared at Hibari, puzzled. Why was the prefect having a curious face?

…

Never mind, forget the last question. Yamamoto was lucky that after he stopped persuading Hibari to go with him and continued looking for Tsuna on his own, Roll started following him. And right behind Roll, Hibari came along too. Quite a strange thing, as to be told.

* * *

><p>"Okay… if someone doesn't shut down te damn explosions… I'll crack!" Lyn groaned, grabbing her head. For the last few minutes, she was trying to fall asleep, but it failed because well… the moment she closed her eyes, somewhere from above, someone started throwing dynamites and grenades and whatever.<p>

She groaned, pushing herself to get up and start walking. She remembered seeing the stairs nearby, and hopefully, headed towards them. She silently cheered for herself when she actually found them, and headed upstairs to give a dynamite-thrower a peace of her mind. She hated, as in despised… not being able to rest when she wanted to. This time was no exception. Especially because she was barely standing on her feet.

After she finished climbing up the stairs (which actually took her quite a while because of the pain she was still feeling in her stomach, knees… technically… every single part of her body), she observed the room around her.

"Oh perfect!" she wailed, realizing that she was standing among four clear walls. No doors, no windows, no anything. "Is this place a labyrinth or something?" she complained, wishing to just start hitting something. Another explosion was heard, and it was quite near her. Maybe a room or two apart, if she could only be able to break a wall. "Damn it…" Lyn growled.

It all happened too fast… too fast for her to see what was coming. There was another loud explosion, and then one of the walls around her suddenly cracked. Before she even got to see what happened, something hit right at her, sending her on the opposite wall. After hitting the wall, she fell down, groaning in pain as something pressed her hard from the front, leaving her without air. She was just about to start cursing, when someone else did it instead of her.

"Damn that scar-face! I'll make sure you're fed with dynamites this time, you squinty, fucking bastard!"

Lyn opened her eyes. She was sort of dizzy from hitting at the wall like that. She was sure that there'll be a crack left behind her… and whoever was in front of her. _Oh, when we're at it…_ she blinked, looking down on who exactly was making a pancake from her and her eyes widened in disbelief at the sight.

"H-Hayato…-san?"

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I have a little note, and pretty much apology of some sort. I spent a while in re-reading Gokudera's fight with Shitt P (his only actual fight with Vongola gear yet =.=) and I guess I still find those stuff confusing. So yeah… please don't smack me if Gokudera vs. Manolo is not exactly satisfying. Sowwy –puppy eyes- I'll try fixing it when it continues in the next chapter! <strong>

**AND OMG! I can't believe I managed to finish this for today! YAY! xD **


	15. Maze

"Hayato…-san?"

Gokudera blinked at the sound of his name being said. He was aware that he hit at someone, but he wasn't wondering who. Not that he even cared, since for whoever he hit at would be far better to get lost. So no, he did not expect to hit right at no one else but the stupid brat by the name Azzaro Lyn, who overall looked like she was in terrible condition. But not worse than his own.

"Damn you, stupid brat! Stop getting in my way! And what are you even doing here?" he snapped.

Lyn blinked, tears forming in her eyes. "H-Hayato-san… am I glad to see you here!" she exclaimed, hugging the silver-haired bomber.

"What the!" Gokudera tried shaking her off. "Get off me, stupid blonde! What's the hell's up with you?"

Lyn released him, her eyes still teary. "Don't call me stupid… nor blonde!" she sharply said. "I can tolerate with the brat thingy because it's fun when someone like you comes and yells at me that I'm a brat… stupid… I can tolerate too, since you call everyone stupid… but BLONDE! And overall, STUPID BLONDE?"

Gokudera blinked, seeing the submersed anger that he had never seen before. He always though that the brat was stupid and all… and especially irritating and weak… but maybe that wasn't… all of it.

"You're lucky that I'm way too tired now," Lyn sighed, yawning.

"THE HELL YOU-"

"Well, seems like there's more of you now."

It made Gokudera and Lyn turn around, both recognizing the voice in Italian. Voice that put Lyn through agony, and the one that kept irking Gokudera to no end. Both had enough of it already, wishing to just kick the man.

"I just wonder how you managed to escape," Manolo's eyes narrowed at Lyn. He already gave up on wondering how Gokudera kept surviving his attacks of wrath. It was starting to get irritating and Manolo was mostly willing to kill them both. Too bad, he needed information that so far, only those two could provide.

Gokudera jumped on his feet, dynamites prepared. "You…"

"YOU!" Lyn hissed as loudly as she could in Italian.

"What… you know the bastard?" Gokudera asked, switching to Japanese, his eyes narrowing.

"You don't?" Lyn blinked, also switching back in Japanese.

"Stop fooling around and answer the question!" Gokudera shouted, glaring at her intensely, wishing to just hit her.

"Alright, alright." Lyn replied, hate obvious in her eyes. "This freak ordered to his baboons to hurt Tsuna!" she exclaimed in anger.

Manolo snickered, not caring about his no-knowledge of Japanese. It was quite interesting, since his two targets were yelling at each other. Until Gokudera turned and started yelling at him, Lyn putting a smirk on her face. A smirk that Manolo read as 'I just told him some pretty sneaky lies. You're to die, freak.'

"You will regret…" Gokudera hissed in Italian through his gritted teeth. "Hurting Decimo."

Lyn covered her mouth as Gokudera started throwing his dynamites at Manolo like insane, making the scar-face retreat outside of the room and he himself going after him. Lyn sighed, wondering if telling Gokudera that Tsuna was hurt because of Manolo was a good thing. But what she hated was that it was mostly true.

"Oh my… I wonder what she said to you…" Manolo sighed, dodging another dynamite thrown from Gokudera. It was getting strange to Manolo. The silver-haired bomber was sort of looking unfocused or even dazed off. But Manolo himself wasn't in much better condition. His left arm was totally unusable and he had many burns, scratches and injuries caused by Gokudera's dynamites. Manolo though, also started wondering why all of a sudden Vongola started picking fights with Capelli. Did his father once again do something foolish? Or was it his little brother who went to Vongola to spread lies about them? Either way, he was going to find out it. He had to.

* * *

><p>"Did you find him?"<p>

"Yes. Sector C, floor two," Lal answered. "I can't find Aria anywhere though."

Reborn sighed into his phone. "Mammon said that the illusion he put over her is still present and working, so we shouldn't take it to heart."

Lal fixed her earphones that she was using to contact Reborn. "I'm much more concerned about hearing that you think that this whole thing was about Sky pacifier. And to say Genkishi is behind it… You do know that he still is a member of Giglio Nero. He also saw the future and he knows what will happen if he does what he did the last time."

"Then it only leaves us to figure out the puzzle," Reborn answered, finishing the call. Thing might as well go the wrong way, but it could be dealt with possibly even without a fight. And Reborn, for the first time, hoped for that. Something was telling him that the fight was exactly what Genkishi was aiming for. _But then… why of all people… Glo Xinia as a bait? _It was other one of those non-making-sense question in his head. Unless if Genkishi was requesting help from Glo Xinia, knowing that he'll get it. Again, there would be a how.

Reborn dismissed the thought, heading over to sector C. All he knew was that in that sector, on the second floor, were normal rooms, meant for resting and sleeping and such. Hopefully, Genkishi didn't know he was coming. But even if he did, nothing would change, or so Reborn thought.

* * *

><p>Manolo went flying through the wall, uncomfortably hitting the second one and crushing on the ground. He had no idea where his opponent got such strength, but it was incredible.<p>

Gokudera was standing in the hallway, panting and gasping, taking another group of his never-ending supply of dynamites. He long gave up on fighting with Vongola gear, since it started becoming too exhausting for him. However, normal dynamites seemed to be quite a good option, that was actually successful. Each time Gokudera would throw a dynamite, Manolo would fly off, hitting the wall or something. And before the scar-face would get any chance of fighting back, Gokudera would throw another one.

Manolo used his elbows as support, aiming to get up. He almost did, but then he saw Gokudera standing in the hole that Manolo created when he was sent flying. Situation was completely reversed now, considering the one about three minutes earlier.

"It ends here," Gokudera said, his eyes getting lost in shadows. "I'll make you pay for hurting Decimo." He made another step closer, holding only one single dynamite in his hand.

Manolo tried to flinch off, not strong enough to fight it back. "I… I can give you the information… where Decimo is," he muttered, trying to hold for the last string of hope he had. He couldn't believe that he was being defeated by a mere teenager. Overall, a Japanese teenager.

"So can the stupid blonde," Gokudera pointed out. He stood right in front of Manolo, spinning the dynamite between his fingers. Regardless of the fact that Manolo couldn't even move, he didn't wait. Gokudera punched him, putting all his might into that one punch. It completely knocked out Manolo, and Gokudera victoriously smirked. He threw off his dynamite by side, crushing down on his knees.

"Hayato-san!" Lyn shouted from the hallway, leaned on the hole in the wall. Her eyes were shining in amazement. "The freak deserved it," she commented, seeing the condition of the Manolo whose nose was bleeding.

"I'd stay… to make him swallow the damn dynamite…" Gokudera murmured, his eyes still in shadows, "but Jyuudaime… is waiting."

Lyn nodded. "Now when I come to think of it… when Tsuna rescued me… he looked sort of exhausted and hurt…" she remembered. "And those two baboons are strong… I think we should hurry up, Hayato-san."

"Yeah." Gokudera agreed, forcing himself to stand up on his feet again. "We need to find Jyuudaime quickly." He headed over towards the way out of the room and then down the hallway. Lyn followed him.

"By the way, Hayato-san… is Chrome-san alright?" Lyn asked when they were halfway down the stairs through which Lyn came.

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Gokudera shortly asked. Lyn blinked.

"Err… Chrome Dokuro? Tsuna's Mist guardian," she tried to explain. Seeing the 'I don't get what you're saying, but it's not like it matters' look coming from Gokudera, she shook her head. "Never mind." Who was she asking about again?

Anyways, they continued going down, until they suddenly found themselves in the labyrinth-look-alike hallways with doors on equal distance from each other that Lyn was in earlier. She turned to Gokudera with a sheepish look on her face.

"If I say that I don't know which way to go…" she offered.

"Damn you stupid bratty blonde! Go find Jyuudaime as in right now!"

"But-"

"No buts! GO! FIND! JYUUDAIME!"

"I got it, alright! Don't yell! Don't yell!" Lyn cried, covering for her ears.

"Che… you better find him then, stupid brat," Gokudera hissed. Lyn groaned. How exactly was she supposed to do that? It's not like she could remember anything in the stupid labyrinth. She had no idea which way to go. Gokudera either.

"But… which way…?" Lyn asked, lowering her head. _I… I'm sorry, Tsuna… you must be in quite a mess now. I can't believe how stupid I… how dumb… I am._ Obviously she wasn't going to get an answer from her fellow buddy.

* * *

><p>"Tell me what the hell happened to G!" Giotto shouted, almost losing control. Why wasn't anyone telling him why did his right-hand end up in bed, now being in the middle of the surgery from which his life was depending on?<p>

"Calm down, Giotto, calm down," Asari said, softly patting him on the shoulder. "Knuckle said that G should be fine. Rest assured, if Knuckle says that…"

"Then why is he still in surgery?" Giotto demanded. "I want answers, now! And where the hell are Daemon and the others? What in the world happened!"

Again, everyone were silent. Asari and Alaude were sending unsure looks at their boss while Ryohei was just sitting in an armchair aside, dumbly looking at him. Lambo and Lampo were back in Lampo's room, since the five-year-old Lambo returned a little while latter. Ricardo was also present, sitting in the armchair next to Ryohei's and digging his head into his knees. Seeing that no one was talking, he decided to speak up.

"It was my fault, Uncle…"

Giotto turned over to him, taken aback with the statement. "What do you mean?"

Ricardo sighed. "It was my fault… I… I should've stopped my father before it happened…"

"Ricardo… what are you talking about?" Giotto asked.

Ricardo had a weak smile playing over o his face. "It started when I ran onto G in the living room…" and so, he started talking about everything that had happened the moment he ran onto G. Since he was telling the whole story in Italian, Ryohei ended up being completely annoyed, and he went to the medical rooms to see if he can extremely help Knuckle.

By the time Ricardo finished, Asari and Giotto had their mouth slightly open, and Alaude only hn-ed. Not that he could have any other reaction, considering the story he just heard.

"I guess… it was to be expected…" Asari muttered in the end. "Paolo did intend on putting up a war with us sooner or later. I guess it had to be the sooner."

"Hn… he should've sent that fool of his son," Alaude added. "Even if the idiot is weak, he would've gotten in further."

"I… agree with both of you," Giotto murmured, crushing into the armchair that Ryohei got up from earlier. "And I'm honestly not surprised that they went for G first. I just… I never thought that Paolo had… had…"

"Balls?" Alaude offered.

"Well, I was thinking of saying guts, but I guess that could do," Giotto sighed. "I know that he's a coward… a big one, that is. But I guess that how he managed to do it. Shooting G in chest while G wasn't looking is, after all, a coward's act."

"Hn… It is not just his fault. It is the red-head's fault for not expecting that," Alaude pointed out, earning three judging looks to be shot at him, but he ignored them all. Not that he cared.

"You could put it a bit more gently, Alaude," Asari reminded. "I'm not sure myself, but I think anyone would be able to fall for that."

"Alright, alright." Giotto sighed, stepping up on his feet. He made up his mind. "I can see what you're implying, Alaude," his eyes flashed towards his Cloud guardian. "And I agree. You are going with me to Capelli mansion. I know I can trust Knuckle to save G, and I know I can trust Asari to keep everything under control."

"Eh, wait, Giotto, you're not seriously going!" Asari pointed out, but Giotto and Alaude were both already up on their feet.

"Understand me, Asari, there are other people needing to be rescued," Giotto said seriously. "And important matter to be taken care of."

Asari nodded, seeing the point Giotto was trying to make. "Alright then. I'll keep the mansion under control."

Giotto nodded, and with Alaude, headed over towards the exit of the room they were in. Ricardo jumped on his feet, grabbing Giotto by the shoulder.

"I want to come too!"

"I can't permit you that," Giotto calmly said.

"But I can help! I know the mansion! I know where dad leaves the new prisoners and-"

"Like I said, I can't permit you that," Giotto replied. "I know you can take care of yourself," he added after Ricardo tried opposing once again, "but someone needs to stay and protect the mansion, so I'm asking you to stay with Asari."

"But I don't-" Ricardo sighed, giving up when Giotto and Alaude were just gone without a single word. Asari patter his shoulder.

"It is better to stay here, Rick," he pointed out. "You know how Giotto is like when his family gets hurt. I don't think he'd want you to be present to see how he's going to deal with the situation."

"But he said that I'll be the one to succeed him! Since he did, it would be fair for me to go and see how it's done!" Ricardo objected. Asari just shook his head.

"There's still time. Don't rush it. Trust me, you may not like it," he replied in serious voice, leaving Ricardo dumbfounded.

"Uncle Giotto had it hard… right?" Ricardo asked right before Asari was out of the room.

The first generation had a sad smile on his face when he turned to face Ricardo. "Yes, Rick. I'm afraid so." And with that said, Asari left to check on G's condition. Ricardo sighed, sitting back in his chair, staring in his own palms that had scars from the flame he used earlier. He used it so intensely, not paying any attention to the injuries he might get. But it's not like those were scary ones. He could deal with it.

* * *

><p>There was a click, and the door opened. A person inside of an empty room turned around, sensing that someone had walked in the room, but there was no one on his sight. Door were slowly moving back and forth, like being carried by a wind. He sighed. It must have been a draft only. No more, no less. He closed the doors, the presence in the room still present.<p>

He knew that presence.

He knew the person that entered.

He knew who it was all too well.

"So how about you take down that mask off of your face and show yourself already," he said, crossing his arms.

"How strange… I intended on saying the same words to you, Genkishi," a female voice said, but still, there was no one present.

Genkishi's eyes narrowed. "How long… have you known?"

"Ever since the day you asked for taking vacation. You were gone for almost a month. Back then, I wasn't sure what exactly was in question, but it was nothing good," the voice answered with sadness.

"Why aren't you taking down your cover?" Genkishi asked, not paying much attention to the last sentence.

A silent 'heh' could be heard, before the actual words. "If I'd do it, a group of people would gather here who wouldn't be very happy to see that it was your fault for what had happened to Vongola family."

Genkishi sneered, feeling stupid because it looked like he was talking with a wall. "I only proved that Vongola is nothing, _nothing,_ comparing to my own power."

"You left them defenseless with a sneak-attack and you sent young Tsunayoshi away because you knew that he and his guardians and friends would be able to stand up against you. You also used Glo Xinia and Todd family and sneaked an attack on Timoteo and his guardians in the middle of the night when there was nothing they could do to fight back. Is it really a kind of victory you want? Is such… a cowardly way to satisfy your hunger for power actually enough, or are you aiming for something more?"

"You're slowly starting to impress me, Aria…" Genkishi sighed, his eyes twirling around the room in attempt to find where Aria was, but he got nothing. "With your ignorance, that is. What I am doing is not even near of what you're thinking. If you think that I want to make myself think that I'm powerful just because I destroyed one of the three strongest mafia families in the world, you are very, very wrong."

"Genkishi…" Aria sighed sadly. "Then… why? What is your objective?"

"Well, as you know, it is a very simple answer. Power. A power which I decided to gain differently than the me in the future. Betraying Giglio Nero wasn't so hard to be done either. I did once before, didn't I? But then again, I didn't want to go for power through Byakuran either, since that would be… foolish." Genkishi replied. "I had… a much better idea…" Mist flames ignited on the ring on his finger, and he lifted it up in the heights of his chin, glaring down in the burning indigo flame.

He heard a gasp that Aria let out, as she leaped out of her cover the next second. She recognized the ring burning in Mist flames on his finger. "H-Hell… rings?" That was a perfect explanation for her suddenly blown-off cover.

Genkishi snickered, making the flame grow. At the same time, he showed his other hand, revealing another five Hell rings on all of his fingers. "I have to say that… the vacation that you let me take, certainly helped me find these."

Aria looked… rather shocked. First because the illusion that was covering for her was gone, and then because… even though that it was very well known that in the future, the ones possessing those rings were Genkishi, Rokudo Mukuro and Fran of the future, and Kawahira of the future, nothing was known of them being in actual possession of anyone in the present time. How Genkishi got them, Aria didn't even want to think about. But the lone knowledge that he actually had them _all__? _It was horrifying her.

* * *

><p>"I'm hungry…" Lyn weakly said, crushing down on the floor. For already twenty minutes, she and Gokudera were searching for Tsuna in the so-much of a labyrinth place, but no matter how many doors Gokudera blew up, they found nothing. No one. Well, except for a few guards that Gokudera took out with a single dynamite.<p>

"Shut up, stupid brat! It is your fault for not waiting for the tenth! That you did, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Gokudera hissed at her.

"But I was only listening to Tsuna's orders!" Lyn cried. "That I knew how it would turn out… I would've stayed behind! Tsuna said that he'll catch up with me!"

"Che… I should've been with Jyuudaime… I shouldn't have left to take care of the creepy old-man… I'm a disgrace for a right hand…" Gokudera then mused, leaning on the wall and starting to hit his head. Lyn gasped.

"H-Hayato-san?" She blinked. "Err… stop that!"

But there was no effect. Gokudera kept hitting his head. Lyn rolled her eyes, she approached, hitting his back as strong as she could.

"Oi what the hell did you do that for, stupid brat?" Gokudera snapped at her.

Lyn once again rolled her eyes and shrugged. "If you suddenly die here from a concussion, how do you think that Tsuna would feel, huh? You think he'd be glad, Hayato-san?" she asked sharply.

It was Gokudera's turn to roll his eyes and avert his gaze. "I'm a disgrace for a right-hand of Vongola Jyuudaime…" he mused, continuing to hit his head on the wall. He found it a bit strange that there was no much like there was a minute earlier, but it didn't matter.

Lyn sighed, tapping his shoulder how much she could considering that Gokudera was forcefully trying to hit his head on thin air. "At times like this I'm glad that I'm an illusionist…" she mused. "At least this way the jerk won't get a concussion… unless if he keeps on shaking his head like crazy…" a small smile appeared on her face.

A few seconds latter, her stomach growled. Lyn then lowered her head. "Damn… Illusionary food is definitely not useful in cases like this…"

* * *

><p>Pain… a feeling of pain was running through each single part of his body. Headache was still playing on him, and a sudden splash of icy-cold water was not being helpful at all. Without any strength to even squeak, Tsuna only opened his eyes as much as he could, hopeful that it was just one of those creepy dreams that he used to have and then Lyn or Fuuta would come and splash him with water to wake him up, since Lyn was persistent of teaching Fuuta the 'water-technique' waking up.<p>

Finding that he was in a badly-lightened room, Tsuna groaned. His hopes went down immediately. So that memory of him using every last bit of his strength to set himself and Lyn free was useless. Was a failure. Slowly becoming aware of his position, Tsuna groaned once again. Once again, his arms were stretched, making him hang on down, giving a high pressure to his shoulders. He closed his eyes, wondering whether or not just to go back and sleep. He was way too tired to deal with it.

"Are you sure you want to give that to him? We use it once we want to make captured ones talk, but even if this one does talk, I don't think he'll be able to answer our questions."

Tsuna didn't find it any comforting hearing the female who tortured Lyn speak in the strange language, which Tsuna once again recognized as Italian, and once again, understood none of it.

"I'm still a bit reluctant about it," a voice replied, one that Tsuna recognized as the brunet's. "But I think it would be for the best. At least he won't rip my ears off with his whining and screaming."

"Isn't the torture all about hearing your victims scream?" Sarah asked skeptically.

"It is, but scream. Not cry like pussies, which I think that is precisely what this one will do. And why bother? It'll just make him numb and unable to move very much. Not that he won't feel any pain until the drugs start seriously working, which would be three hours from now?"

Tsuna felt something stab in his already highly pressured arm muscle and he tried bending his arm in pain, but he couldn't even move. The place where it stabbed him, whatever it was, was growing numb and as his drug-infected blood kept going through his blood-stream, it was followed by the stingy feeling starting from his arm, then spreading through the rest of the body. It mixed with his exhaustion, making him unable to move.

"You said you were reluctant! Why did you inject it in him?" Sarah hissed. "He's just a brat! What if it has a different effect?"

"It was tested out on the other girl… the blonde that ran off, Clara Walsh, I think, and the pineapple-head one. My brother said that the effect was completely the same like with adults, just that either of the two was persistent in keeping their mouth shut."

"So how long will the kid be unconscious once you knock him down?"

"Hm… five hours, by my free judgment. He won't feel pain for a few more hours after he wakes up."

"Until then what? You're going to break all of his bones or something?" Sarah suggested.

"I was thinking of something… a bit different…"

Sarah rolled her eyes and Tsuna winced in pain after receiving a punch in his stomach. Sarah sighed. "I leave you to it, then. I'll just go look for the bitch and take care of her."

"Sounds good to me," brunet replied.

Tsuna heard the door were shut, and once again winced in pain after receiving a hit in stomach once again. This one was hard enough to make him spit blood. And even more blood after being hit in his face. That hit was also very strong… almost completely knocking him out. He managed to cough out some more blood, before actually completely relaxing his body. He was too tensed, but he wasn't strong enough. His biceps and triceps already felt like jelly.

"I guess this will be boring… you seem to be in enough pain already…" brunet mused. The second hit in the face was enough for everything to turn black for Tsuna.

* * *

><p>Yamamoto questionably stared at Hibari, who was patting the head of his little hedgehog. Roll seemed to have went upset because of something that confused both, Yamamoto and Hibari, and he tried hiding behind Hibari's leg, but Hibari gently picked him up, patting his head. Yamamoto could only stare at their silent communication, feeling awe.<p>

Hibari suddenly smirked, continuously patting Roll's head. "Good job, Roll," he mused, before his hedgehog was gone from his arms. "Appears that Roll managed to find the herbivores," Hibari pointed out to the confused face of Yamamoto.

"EH? Roll did?" Yamamoto blinked, a huge smile appearing on his face. _But if Hibari is smirking… is it really that good?_ He silently wondered, remembering how bloodlust-seeking person Hibari was.

He got his answer once Hibari took out his tonfas, using them to mercilessly break through the wall of the hallway. As the dust subsided, it revealed another hallway, parallel with the one they were in. Hibari instantly got inside of it, looking around of the hallway. Empty one, on his disappointment. Hibari's eyes narrowed. No. Things were never to go the way he wanted.

"Come on, Hibari!" Yamamoto shouted and walked through the crack on the wall, a wide grin appearing on his face. "Tsuna might be here!"

Hibari rolled his eyes. "Who ever let you order me around, Yamamoto Takeshi?"

Yamamoto sweat-dropped. "Err… I meant if you wanted to…" he added with a forced grin. Hibari's eyes narrowed at him once again as the prefect just walked through the broken wall as well, entering the side hallway.

"Wow… it's like a a version of a false bottom… just it being a wall, not bottom," Yamamoto said with a dumb grin, attempting to make the cold prefect smile. Apparently, his statement was ignored, and Hibari headed off by side. Soon, the two were lost in the maze of completely same and equally distanced doors that it was becoming creepy to both of them.

* * *

><p>"Hayato-san…"<p>

"Yes?" Gokudera grumbled.

"I don't think I can walk any longer…" Lyn said in weak voice.

"Stupid brat… why the hell am I not surprised?"

"I also don't think you can walk any longer…"

"Fuck…"

"Hayato-san… I don't think that swearing is a piece of a good idea in this situation. It won't help us any more than walking did a few minutes ago."

"The hell… did you graduate psychology or something, stupid brat?"

"There's no need for graduating even grade school to get this one right… Admit it, Hayato-san, your judgment was wrong, and now we're lost. Now you can go and get over it."

"Shut the hell up! We're not lost if we didn't even know where we were to begin with!"

"But we did know!"

"We did not! Unless you can give me the exact longitude and latitude where we are at the moment!"

"I don't think they have GPS devices at this time yet, Hayato-san."

"Now you chose to act like a smartass, stupid brat! Of course they don't have GPS devices in this time! It's 18- something… Nineteenth century, either way you look at it! GPSs come in twenty-first, stupid brat!"

"That still doesn't explain where we are, Hayato-san."

"Oh just shut up…"

* * *

><p><strong>To be honest, I think this is one of the boring chapters, lol xD I'll try making it all a bit more interesting as I proceed to the next one. Thanks for reading! Till the next chapter~<strong>


	16. Curse business rolling

"Blalbalbala! - Normal speech.

_Blablablablabla - _Thoughts/ flashbacks

_"Blablablabla" - _Talk through the phone/or words of a person not exactly present in the place where the scene is happening.

**Trust me, you'll need to remember this for the chapter. Hopefully, I won't confuse you that much!**

* * *

><p>Some things can just never go right and Lyn knew it the best.<p>

_Will anyone please explain me why exactly are Hayato-san and I sitting lost in a hallway, right across each other, both having one leg stretched, other folded, and glaring at each other as if we're aiming to bite each other's throats? Actually, he's trying to cut my head off. Hm… we might become vampires in the process though… but I don't know, I don't want to sparkle in sunlight!_ Lyn snapped the back of her head on the wall.

"Will you stop glaring?" Gokudera snapped, closing his eyes and shaking his head. _Geez, it's getting so irritating!_

"I'm not glaring!"

"You are, stupid brat! Now stop glaring at me! What, are there start dancing above my head or something?"

"I never thought Uri was the type to have children," Lyn muttered silently.

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

Lyn eyed furious Storm guardian and her eyebrows arched. "Nothing. I was just thinking that maybe we should go looking for Tsuna."

"It would be a smart idea that this place wasn't made to force us go in circle! Do you want me to just blow up the walls or something?" Gokudera growled.

"Aw… I'd prefer having a pizza or omelet instead of dynamites and dust for my meal."

"Stop thinking about the damn food, damn it! We need to go and find Jyuudaime!"

"Sure, you're free to go anytime… I, on the other hand, still have an almost torn up stomach that is in need of urgent food supply," Lyn nonchalantly pointed out. Her eyes widened when Gokudera actually stood up on his feet and started leaving, step by step. Lyn actually started counting the steps.

"Fine… off you go, leaving Lyn behind. Not like she's gonna stay all alone in a creepy maze…" Lyn silently said, a pout shaping on her face. She let her hands fall aside when she leaned her forehead on her knee.

"Hn…" Gokudera's fists clutched. He had three choices of where to go. Which to choose? Which to choose?

* * *

><p>The room was getting shady, only light in it coming from the Mist flames vividly burning on Hell rings. Hell rings that were right on Genkishi's fingers. Aria tried to sustain from shock, but such thing was hard to be done. No matter how much she wanted, it couldn't be only a dream.<p>

"Why…?" she asked in weak, timid voice, lowering her head in sadness. "It couldn't be power only… so why? Why did you turn your back on Giglio Nero once again? Why did you, once again, choose the wrong path? Power can't be a sole reason."

"Maybe," Genkishi confirmed, "but my reasons are my own. I have no reason or desire in sharing them with you."

Small smile enveloped Aria's face. "You're very right about that, and it is not for me to intervene." Her smile though, turned sad. "But there are others who will request for many more answers, and when the time for that comes, I will not stand in their way."

"Then I guess it would be better for you to move, Aria," a third voice said, dragging the attention to itself.

Not Aria or Genkishi seemed surprised with the infant wearing a suit and a fedora who was standing in the dark corner. They didn't know when or how Reborn got there, but they knew well that he was standing there for a while.

"I might as well agree," Genkishi added. "After all, it is the Sun Arcobaleno who is holding the biggest grudge against me," he said knowingly.

"Well, after what you have done, I believe that a bouquet of roses isn't exactly what you deserve, Genkishi," Reborn retorted, the gun in his hand prepared. "Now, I'll ask you nicely. What did you do to make the tenth generation of Vongola disappear from this time?"

Sneer jerked on Genkishi's face. "What makes you think that I'll answer to that question?"

Shadow covered Reborn's face. "Answer the question."

"I have no intention to answer it," Genkishi stood firmly. "But I will give you a hint, whatsoever. Cruse. The rest is up to you, Arcobaleno."

Reborn's eyes narrowed and Aria gasped. Reborn quickly shook off his uneasiness. "Did you get that, Verde?" he asked.

Genkishi blinked, trying to find out how Reborn was communicating with the other Arcobaleno, since he was holding no phone. _Ah… an earplug, I see…_he realized, seeing a small black object in Reborn's ear.

"_I got it loud and clear,"_ Verde replied and started tying something on his keyboard.

"Note that he has all six Hell rings," Reborn added.

"_Don't worry. I now have all the necessary data. Oh… I can't wait to figure this one out~"_ Verde excitedly cutting the connection and devoting to his work.

"Now I believe I have no other questions to ask," Reborn said.

For the first time that night, Genkishi actually felt slightly worried. _With my current power level, I could possibly take out and kill an Arcobaleno… but… the strongest Arcobaleno?_

* * *

><p>It felt like hours had passed. Tsuna felt all normal now, not feeling anything, like he was never even injured. There was no headache anymore either. However, he was still dizzy. He tried to move, but as stretched as his arms were, there was no use. Oh… and what headache and pain? Since when were his arms stretched?<p>

He started wondering what exactly happened to him. Last thing he could remember…

_"You also wish to be bitten to death?" Hibari questioned, his brow twitching. "Cause I'll gladly make that wish come true," he added, sneering at Tsuna in his Hyper Dying Will mode. Hibari tried releasing his weapon from Tsuna's grip, but Tsuna wasn't letting go._

_"Stop this, Hibari," he said in calm and composed voice, making the first generation guardians think that he wasn't Tsuna, more actually someone else. The wimpy and sort of squeamish voice that he used to have was now gone._

_"Who ever said that I'm taking orders from you?" Hibari's eyes narrowed in irritation, but the brunette still wasn't letting go._

_"There are currently more important things, Hibari," Tsuna said. "As you can see, we're hundreds years in past right now!" he added, releasing Hibari's tonfa after he noticed the change of expression in Hibari's face. It wasn't big though. It was more like a change from mere irritation to pure annoyance, but it was a change._

He blinked, testing out the past theory. _So… I'm in past? B-but… how did I get here – wherever here is? _He blinked, finding that the room he was in had no light in it. It was strange how he was able to see almost everything, though. Looking around, he found out that the room he was in only had one door, and nothing else. There were traces of fighting in the room, and chains on his side were melted. It immediately made him think of his Sky flames. _But… why can't I remember? What… happened to me?_

He had no idea how much more time passed ever since he had woken up, however, strange noise was getting stronger and stronger for a while already. To Tsuna, it sounded like someone continuously firing the dynamites or something that his mind couldn't completely process. _C-could it be… G-Gokudera-kun? _

But the thought was dismissed right away when he heard a female scream and a rushed voice yelling. _Is that… Lyn?_ However, all of that was lost in another loud explosion that turned out to be so much closer to Tsuna now.

"_KYOYA-SAN, DON'T!" _

"_O-OI, HIBARI!"_

And another explosion.

_H-Hibari-san… is here as well? _Tsuna came to wonder himself. He tried dragging the chains that were tightly binding him, but it was futile. It sort of turned into a strange, itching feeling on his back, and then he felt some sort of odd liquor sliding down his back. Despise the liquid being warm, it was giving Tsuna a cold and unpleasant feeling.

"_NO, HAYATO-SAN, NOT YOU TOO!"_

That shout made Tsuna's hopes rise up. So he wasn't imagining it. _T-that voice… it's definitely Lyn! And H-Hibari-san and Gokudera-kun are here as well! Thank god!_

"E-EVERYONE!" he tried to yell, but his voice cracked after the first syllable. How long wasn't he talking? And why was his throat itching so much? It felt like he thrown up or something, earlier. _Oh well, that would explain the blood on my shirt and on the floor. And something dry and unpleasant near my lips… Wait… WHAT?_

"HIIIEE!"

* * *

><p>"You're pathetic…" Gokudera murmured unpleasantly. "The hell… why THE HELL am I carrying you around?" he hissed, trying to ignore the weight on his back. Not.<p>

"I want to help Tsuna too, Hayato-san!" Lyn squeaked, tightening her grip around his neck, receiving a piggy-back ride from Gokudera who was not happy about it. "But since I'm kind of exhausted from overusing my flames and physical strength, be happy that you're carrying me _awake_," she splat her tongue out.

Gokudera rolled his eyes. "I might as well drop you here and now."

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO! I won't help you find Tsuna then!"

"Che, I can find Jyuudaime on my own!"

"No, you can't! That you could, you wouldn't be carrying me around like this!"

"Oh, is that so?" Gokudera replied sarcastically, letting her drop on the floor. "How's that, huh? Still think I can't go looking for Jyuudaime on my own?"

"You're such a meanie!" Lyn cried, patting her butt. "Though the idea of blowing up the whole hallway now actually sounds admirable…" she added in sweetly-pouting face and silent voice, which irked Gokudera.

"Shut the fuck up! I'm off!"

"But-"

"I can't hear you!"

"HAYATO-SAN, SCAR-FACE ON YOUR RIGHT!"

Lyn confusedly blinked once Gokudera instantly threw dynamite at his right side. When the smoke cleared up, Gokudera rolled his eyes. "You stupid BRAT! Don't give me false alerts like that! Who the hell do you think you are!"

Despise all the yelling, Lyn still had a satisfied smile on her face. "Actually, it was you who said that you can't hear me… maybe I should've just said that Daemon Spade's attacking you from front, left and right… I bet there'd be more fireworks."

"DAMN YOU, STUPID BRAT!" Gokudera exclaimed, turning to face the younger girl and throwing a fired dynamite aside, leaving it to explode. "Just what the hell do you have in your head instead of brains? Cotton maybe? Or do you have an illusionary brain?"

Sheepish grin appeared on Lyn's face as a faint illusion of a magician with a hat appeared, taking out a magic wand and twirling it around Gokudera while saying random magic spells.

"CUT IT OUT! The damn illusion is so faint that I can actually say that it's an illusion!" Either way, he used dynamite to blew it off.

"Not my fault that you didn't bring food with you," Lyn murmured, drawing something on the floor with her finger. "And-" she stopped in mid-word.

"Stop blaming me! Why the hell am I even stuck with you, stupid brat?" Gokudera hissed.

"Shut up!" Lyn shortly said, never in more serious voice. It made Gokudera instantly shut up. When he was just about starting to yell at her again, he stopped, finally hearing what she was trying to point out.

"I told you I heard something, didn't I? And it's right ahead of us, though I can't see anything yet!" a familiar voice cheerfully said.

"Oh, I can see them now! Is that… is that Lyn?" the same voice added, and a second later. "O-OI, LYN! AND GOKUDERA TOO! HEY!"

Lyn blinked, stretching her head on her left to get a better view of the caller. "TAKESHI-SAN!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

"What the hell are you doing here, baseball-freak?" Gokudera spat, crossing his arms.

Yamamoto grinned. "Hibari and I were looking for Tsuna and Lyn," he replied. "Though, I'm glad to see you found Lyn, Gokudera!"

"Eh?" Lyn blinked. "Kyoya-san too?"

"You're too noisy, herbivores," Hibari confirmed his presence.

"KYOYA-SAN!" Lyn squealed, seeing him appear near Yamamoto. "OH am I glad to see you guys! Hayato-san started blowing up rooms and everything since we simply got lost in here… I suppose he was trying to mark the places where we already passed!" she sweetly said and a mini-dynamite exploded so very near her, making her squeak and move away.

"Heh? That's a nice way to mark the already visited place, Gokudera!" Yamamoto chuckled.

"SHUT UP, BASEBALL-FREAK! AND STOP MESSING AROUND, STUPID BRAT!" Gokudera snapped.

"But I wasn't messing around," Lyn pouted. "I was just giving my critic on your act."

"JUST SHUT UP! IT WAS YOUR IDEA!"

"Don't push the blame at me! It was you who did it!"

"It was you who came up with it!"

"But it-"

"You. Are. Way. Too. Noisy." Dark aura surrounded Hibari as he drew out his tonfas. "I will, bite you to death."

"KYOYA-SAN, DON'T!" Lyn screamed, realizing that Hibari wasn't joking. Since she was closer to him, he aimed his attack on her, despise the fact that she was literally sitting on the ground and sweating like insane.

"O-OI, HIBARI!" Yamamoto shouted warningly when he missed Lyn in an inch just because she threw herself on the ground in the last second, hitting her head on it. Everything in her head way being dizzy while stars were sparkling as well. A goofy smile appeared on her face as she forced her self to get up.

"It hurts…" she shortly and silently said, though still smiling. Yamamoto approached to pat her back.

In the meantime, Hibari was now aiming for Gokudera, seeing that Lyn wasn't in any shape to fight. Gokudera wasn't much better either, but the silver-head at least properly dodged the attack.

"Stop messing around, stupid skylark!" Gokudera hissed, taking out his dynamite. "Like it or not, we can finish the damn fight after we find Jyuudaime!"

Lyn rubbed her forehead. "I wonder which time did he say that already?" She didn't pay much attention to Yamamoto's confused face.

"I'll bite you to death," Hibari growled, charging at Gokudera once again, too pissed for his own good. He needed to take it out on someone, and why not on the silver-haired herbivore? That sounded like a nice and effective idea.

"Tch! I'll get you for that!" Gokudera hissed, taking out three dynamites in each hand, waiting for Hibari. Who cared that he was tired. The sooner he takes out Hibari, the sooner he gets to go and find Jyuudaime, so there wasn't much time to be wasted.

"NO, HAYATO-SAN, NOT YOU TOO!" Lyn cried when Gokudera threw dynamites at Hibari who easily cut through them before they even got to explode. With a flip, Hibari aimed to kick Gokudera in his abdomen, but missed. That's why he got luckier when he tried it out with a tonfa, sending Gokudera flying right to a wall. Gokudera quickly grumbled out of it, charging at Hibari now, and Hibari wasn't waiting either. Yamamoto was on his way to intervene their fight after Hibari sent another tonfa attack at Gokudera.

"_HIIIEE!"_

It made them al freeze in a second. Yamamoto's hand was grabbing Hibari's wrist in attempt to stop him from hurting Gokudera, while Hibari's tonfa was only an inch away from Gokudera's neck. Gokudera was holding a single mini-dynamite in his hand that seemed to be ready to be thrown into Hibari's shirt, and Lyn's eyes widened at the familiar scream. Her mouth widened in a smile.

"Was that…?" Yamamoto blinked.

"J-Jyuudaime…?"Gokudera blinked.

"Tsuna," Lyn whispered, excited.

"Hn."

"Okay, that was an amazing way to ruin the mood, Kyoya-san."

Hibari eyed Lyn with a corner of his eye. It was enough to make her scratch the back of her head and say 'never mind'.

"Eh, but it was definitely Tsuna!" Yamamoto grinned suddenly.

"Of course that it was Jyuudaime!" Gokudera growled. "And stop addressing Jyuudaime with such disrespect!"

Lyn shook her head. "We better get moving before he starts fighting again… give me a hand, Takeshi-san?" she asked innocently. Yamamoto just grinned at her, helping her to lean over his shoulder and they started walking.

"Now when I think about it… Tsuna seems to be quite near, but… we won't really go checking through all the rooms?" Yamamoto pointed out, gesturing with his hand towards the possible ways for them to turn on.

"I think we've got that settled, baseball-freak!" Gokudera roared with an eager smile on his face.

"H-he… he looks like a demon…" Lyn stammered, tightly gripping over Yamamoto's shoulder.

"Haha, you look really happy, Gokudera!"

"He does not look happy! He looks like a FREAKING demon that is about to throw dynamites at some serious asses that I believe that are ours! So before it's too late, TAKE COVER, TAKESHI-SAN!"

With a sigh, Hibari leaned on the wall, watching Lyn and Yamamoto ducking to dodge a few dynamites thrown in their direction that hit the wall and then exploded, making a whole hole out of it. He scratched his nose, awkwardly standing still. _If this were to be Namimori, the herbivore would be long bitten to death…_ he nodded at his thoughts. Smirk played on his face when Lyn started squeaking at Gokudera that he was firing at the wrong directions. _Hm, this whole annoying trip might end up having a bit more entertainment than I thought._

"There, Hayato-san! There! You're firing dynamites in the wrong way, Hayato-san!"

BAM!

"O-oi, Gokudera… Tsuna is on the other side, you know! Not this-!"

BAM!

"STOP DESTROYING THE DAMN WALLS! POINT OF THAT IS TO FIND SAWADA TSUNAYOSHI, THE VONGOLA JYUUDAIME AND NOT EAT DUST!" Lyn growled in an almost unrecognizable voice.

"I-I think Lyn's right…" Yamamoto awkwardly nodded.

Lyn coughed in agreement. _Damn it… can't talk anymore!_ She felt like crying and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

Another group of dynamites flew in all sorts of directions, causing major explosions coming from all sides.

"_HIIE! NO MORE EXPLOSIONS! PLEASE!"_

Everyone froze, hearing the familiar voice.

"T-Tsuna…?"

* * *

><p>Giotto leaned his head on the window of the carriage, frown placing itself on his face. <em>T-this… might not be such a good idea…<em> His eyes for a short moment flew off to Alaude, who was enjoying the ride in the whole opposite side. _What the hell was I thinking, brining Alaude with me? Out of everyone, he's the only one who will never question if I'm doing the right thing! Oh, god… this is definitely not good. Why exactly am I going to cause a war for?_ He sighed, his eyes concentrating on the valleys the carriage was going trough.

_Hopefully, it'll end well._

"Twenty more minutes, Master Primo," Marcus announced from the front.

Giotto raised his head from the window and nodded. "Thank you, Marcus."

Twenty minutes only. _This is probably… my fastest ride ever to Capelli's…_ Giotto leaned his head back to the window to cool it down a little. _Hang on… please._

* * *

><p>"R-Reborn-kun…" Aria whispered, standing up on her feet once the small infant got out of the room that he was trapped in for last half an hour. "Our time is up… we can no longer do anything… concerning Decimo…" Her eyes were sad while she was trying to figure out what the infant was thinking about, while his eyes were hidden in the shadow of his fedora. Aria found it confusing that Leon wasn't on Reborn's hat, or his hands. Small chameleon was actually not even in the hallway they were in. Aria couldn't feel his presence at all.<p>

"I know…"

Aria's eyes softened. "And… Genkishi?" she asked silently. There was no surprise for her even if Reborn remained silent for the next few minutes. But there was only one thing capable of making Reborn shut himself that way. "Where is Leon…?"

But she got no answer. Awkward silence between the two was cut once a voice broke through the hallway.

"Come on, Reborn, Aria! Verde found the solution, kora!"

Two heads snapped towards Colonello who was standing in another part of the hallway. Aria then turned to look at Reborn who slowly started walking towards Colonello without any single word. With an exhale, she followed.

"What happened with Reborn, kora?" Colonello silently asked to Aria, his head turned towards the Sun Arcobaleno who was taking the lead, acting sort of strange. Aria sent a soft smile at Colonello and shook her head, tempted to her answer actually put in words, but she didn't know how.

They soon stopped, as it was commented by Verde through the earplugs.

"_Stay where you are, and don't move." _

"Why? What is the matter, kora?" Colonello asked.

"_B-but, I'm not exactly liking my position now!" _Skull stammered on the earplugs.

"Skull, Verde said something," Reborn replied in dangerous-sounding voice, earning concerned look from Aria.

"_Just get on with what you have already, Verde. After all, time is money," _Mammon commented over the earplugs.

"_Well, to put it simply, thanks to Reborn's valuable information and of course, my hardworking and amazing brain, I had managed to come up with a theory of a curse that Genkishi mentioned."_ Verde replied, typing something in incredible speed with over excited smile on his face.

"Continue on, kora!" Colonello said.

"_Don't hurry me up, Colonello! After all, I-"_

"_Get to the point already!" _Lal growled.

"_Someone seems to be having a bad day," _Verde teased.

"Verde, please, continue," Aria said in serious voice.

"_Alright now," _Verde sighed and started of his explanation. _"Coming from all the information I managed to gather, the thing that sent Vongola Decimo and his guardians to the past was actually a thing called Romies. It is a curse, that once called can send from one to eight people to a time that the one who castes it wants. Once casted, the curse takes away its casualties to the certain time, past or future, one by one in intervals of few hours, causing the people from their present to start forgetting everything about them in a matter of an hour or two, depending on the contact that the cursed one had with them. Even if they disappear from this time in different intervals, they will all appear at the same time in the past or future."_

"So, as much as we know, Decimo and his guardians are in Primo's era, kora!" Colonello pointed out.

"_Well, that is the tricky part," _Verde implied. _"What time they are in, it doesn't matter. What is more complicated is that the ones hit by the curse will lose their existence in their present in a matter of two days, or either forty eight hours from the moment the last one of the cursed ones was sent away."_

"_That still doesn't explain why we can still remember Decimo, Verde!" _Lal exclaimed._ "The time was up twenty minutes ago!"_

"_Well, it should be obvious by now, shouldn't it?" _Verde implied with a smirk. _"Something had gone wrong… otherwise we wouldn't be able to know about any of this."_

"Such as…?" Aria questioned.

"_Well, a time filled with too many happenings, an extra person, some kind of thing influencing the cursed ones before they are actually gone… there are many things, though I can't find explanation of how for any single one of them," _Verde explained.

"_I see. So we still remember – well, not exactly remember – of Decimo and his family because of one of those reasons," _Fon said something for the first time since the conversation started. _"And at the same time, is giving us a chance to get them back?"_

"_Possible," _Verde agreed. _"There's another thing about that curse… that is simply confusing the devil out of me. Its consequences for the ones that have been cursed…"_

"And those are…?" Reborn also said something for he first time ever since Verde started explaining.

"_The ones that were cursed will slowly start forgetting about their present. Just like with us, they will have basic knowledge, but no actual memory. That would be first," _Verde answered. _"Second one is the rougher one, in my opinion."_

"_And what is the second one?" _Lal asked in serious voice.

"_As their memories start fading, they will soon reach the point of no return. If that comes to happen, the ones that were cursed will slowly lose their existence, because along with their memories goes their soul. Their body will either die, or just their soul will be lost."_

"Then we can only hope that it hadn't happened yet," Aria said in soft voice.

"_Is there any way to reverse that curse?" _Fon asked.

"_So far, I hadn't found anything," _Verde answered. There was a silent transfer of dark and tensed mood that was pressuring all of the Arcobaleno participating the conversation, and even Skull and Mammon who were mostly not paying attention.

"_But," _Verde added, bringing in a small slice of hope. _"Since we are the Arcobaleno…"_

* * *

><p>Tsuna's mouth were wide open when he came to realize that it was his own blood that he was seeing. He started shivering, scary thoughts coming in his head. <em>B-but… if all of this is my blood? T-then… then how… how don't I feel any pain? <em>That question was bugging him very much. His mind was too lost in thinking to pay attention to the outside shouts and yells and even an explosion.

_It's all so confusing… I… Why can't I remember? Wh-what happened to me? And… why do I… why do I have a feeling that Gokudera-kun, Hibari-san and Lyn are here?_ Tsuna's thoughts were running wild on him. Were his friends alright? Was everything okay? Were they even still in past?

BAM!

There were some words said that Tsuna's ears couldn't recognize, and then another…

BAM!

"_STOP DESTROYING THE DAMN WALLS! POINT OF THAT IS TO FIND SAWADA TSUNAYOSHI, THE VONGOLA JYUUDAIME AND NOT EAT DUST!"_

Tsuna trembled at the scary voice he couldn't recognize. Whoever it was, they had a strong throat for shouting like that, and Tsuna was sure that whoever it was, it wasn't very far away from him. And why the hell was that someone even looking for him?

He shrieked once something exploded, right in front of the door in the room he was in. Well, not door – better to say that it broke through the wall because Tsuna had a feeling that he was breathing in dust a second latter, and something aside crashed. _Just like I thought… _

Something was telling him that there was another group of dynamites to come.

"HIIE! NO MORE EXPLOSIONS! PLEASE!" Tsuna squeaked as loud as he could, having a really unpleasant feeling in his throat. He hoped that whoever threw the explosions around (Tsuna was ninety percent sure that it was Gokudera) heard him.

"_JYUUDAIME! JYUUDAIME IS THAT YOU!"_

"EHH? Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna tried to yell but his voice cracked again, so it ended up being shouted a bit weaker than he hoped.

"_O-OI, TSUNA!"_

"Y-Yamamoto?" Tsuna blinked, now already believing that it was a joke.

"_DON'T WORRY, JYUUDAIME! WE'RE COMING!"_

We? Tsuna blinked. _WE? Who else is with you besides Yamamoto, Gokudera-kun? _Sweat started rolling down from Tsuna's forehead. He was starting to get a really, really bad feeling.

"_HAYATO-SAN! YOU CAN'T JUST THROW THE DYNAMITE AGAIN! WHAT IF IT HITS TSUNA!" _

"L-Lyn? Lyn is there too!" Tsuna shrieked at the thought. _B-but… that voice… it didn't sound much like Lyn's… it was… cracked? Like mine…_

"_DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO, STUPID BRAT! JYUUDAIME IS FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT WALL SO I HAVE TO BLOW IT UP!"_

Tsuna sighed. _Stupid brat? Yeah… definitely Lyn._

"_BUT YOU'RE BLOWING UP THE WRONG WALL!"_

There was a loud explosion and sudden burst of dust and smoke in the room forced Tsuna to start coughing like crazy. "G-Gokudera-kun…?" He squinted through the smoke, perceiving a few silhouettes.

"SEE, STUPID BRAT! I TOLD YOU IT WAS THE RIGHT ONE!" Gokudera growled loudly.

"Alright, alright…" Lyn said in awkwardly cracked voice. "You win… I'll start calling Tsuna as Sawada-kun now, happy?"

"I said call Jyuudaime with respect!" Gokudera growled.

"That is with respect!" Lyn cried.

"G-Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna's voice broke in the moment of silence between the two. "Y-Yamamoto…? And… Lyn?" The dust slowly cleared up, revealing shapes of three people that Tsuna was eager to see. _B-but no, wait… there's four of them… _

He squinted harder, trying to find what exactly was wrong with the picture before his eyes. Gokudera was standing there with a wide grin on his face, finger pointed towards Lyn who was relying on Yamamoto's shoulder and was sending a scowl at Gokudera. Yamamoto was having his one hand around Lyn's waist, helping her stand, while with the other he was waving at Tsuna. Tsuna though, found it most surprising, seeing that the fourth person turned out to be Hibari, having his eyes closed and a smirk that made the boss-to-be tremble immediately. Hibari looked really self-pleased with whatever the thought that ran through his mind. Tsuna once again looked all over their faces, finding that there was something wrong… Well, with Gokudera and Lyn, that is. They both were as pale as one of those papers he used for writing, and they were both full of injuries that couldn't be hidden with their strange face expressions or clothes.

"E-everyone…" Tsuna stuttered weakly. "W-what happened to you…? What…? Where are we…?"

Yamamoto waved it off with his free hand. "Talk comes later. First thing we have to do is get you out of here, Tsuna!" He helped Lyn to lean on the wall since both, Gokudera and Hibari stepped back from them.

Along with Yamamoto, Gokudera approached too while Hibari was just leaning on the wall that they've broken through. Tsuna found it ironic how that wall was just on the opposite side from the one that previously exploded because of Gokudera's dynamite. Hibari, as much as Tsuna could see, was still crossing his eyes, the crazy smile or whatever it was, gone from his face. _W-what? Is something wrong?_

"Damn it!" Gokudera exclaimed, hitting the wall with his fist. "I apologize, Jyuudaime! I sincerely apologize, but I can't break the chains…" he muttered, bashing his head on the wall once.

"G-Gokudera-kun, stop it!" Tsuna pleaded.

Lyn groaned. "Not _this_ again… I'm not strong enough to put up a new wall illusion!" she cried. She earned one very confused look from Tsuna before Yamamoto's chuckle made Tsuna look at his Rain guardian.

"How much you're complaining that you're tired, you're sure in a mood to yell," Gokudera commented. Too bad, Lyn didn't get to hear it.

"I guess it's my turn to do something big then," Yamamoto grinned, taking out his Shigure Kintoki.

Tsuna suddenly felt an urging need to hide his head somewhere quickly. He saw that Yamamoto was about to swing his sword and Tsuna tightly closed his eyes, pressing his head on his shoulder. Next thing he knew, his arms felt free, and they trailed down, dragging along the rest of his body on his knees.

"See? All good now," Yamamoto grinned.

Tsuna nodded his head. "T-thank you, Yamamoto… G-Gokudera-kun… Hibari-san… Lyn… thank you, guys."

Yamamoto's and Gokudera's 'you're welcome'/'nothing, Jyuudaime' was lost in… "Tsuna, I'm not a guy!" squeak.

"Shut the hell up and don't interrupt Jyuudaime, stupid brat!" Gokudera rolled his eyes. "And call Jyuudaime with respect!"

"Alright!" Lyn snapped, hitting the wall with her fist, though she was the only one feeling pain. "Sawada-kun, I AM NOT a guy!"

"Eh… but… but I never called you one!" Tsuna squeaked quickly. He had bad experience when Lyn was having a dark aura waving around her. It was surprising though, how fast it disappeared.

"My imagination then," Lyn sighed.

"You have funny imagination then, Lyn!" Yamamoto chuckled.

Lyn sweetly smiled at Yamamoto. "Thank you."

"Eh… anyways… can anyone please explain me what happened?" Tsuna broke the newborn silence.

"What are you talking about, Jyuudaime?" Gokudera was the quickest to answer.

"Yeah… what are you talking about, Tsuna?" Yamamoto quickly added.

From Hibari and Lyn, Tsuna only got a confused look, which made him feel uneasy and scratch the back of his head.

"Um… W-where are we? What happened? Are we still in Vongola mansion and all?" Tsuna asked, sort of embarrassed from not being able to remember.

"Jyuudaime?"  
>"Tsuna…"<p>

"Uh… long story short, you came to look for me and you got caught too," Lyn quickly said. "Though, I must point out that you, Tsuna… were really awesome when you helped me escape." She had a small smile playing on her face. "Err, I meant Sawada-kun… and sorry for taking so long," she quickly corrected herself, seeing the look Gokudera was sending at her.

Tsuna blinked, not exactly understanding. "W-what do you mean… I came looking for you?" he asked, totally not trusting her words. _She's definitely joking again…_ Either way, asking about it wasn't that bad either. "I… I was awesome? And I helped you escape?"

"Yup," Lyn confirmed. "You said you'll beat up those two Italians and- come to think of it, aren't we forgetting something?"

"What?" Yamamoto curiously asked.

"Say it, stupid brat…" Gokudera added seeing Lyn arching her eyebrows.

"Err," Lyn lowered her head when the doors snapped open, making everyone jump and turn around, their eyes catching a sight of a guy reminding them of Genkishi, just with no bangs and more pointy face was standing on the door. "I think those explosions were just a bit too loud…" Lyn finished her sentence with twirling her tongue like crazy.

"Well, it was finally the time for all of you brats to come out on open…" brunet commented in Italian.

Being the only ones to understand, Gokudera and Lyn were the only ones to react, both throwing random insults at him, as many of those as they could thing of.

"Don't worry, brats. I love you too," brunet replied.

"WHAT THE! YOU-"

"You son of a bitch! Random, perverted pig! Torture-cow!" Lyn shouted, once again losing her voice after that. _Damn it! I'm wasting my voice on idiots… great!_

"You sure have guts to give me names," brunet commented.

"Che… even a baby can fearlessly give you names," Gokudera retorted instead of Lyn, earning a glare of awe from her.

"Want to test it out?" brunet growled.

"With pleasure," Gokudera hissed.

Dark aura from the side stopped them from drawing their weapons. Hibari sure wasn't planning to sit and watch another fight. He sustained himself and held back once it was needed to find the carnivore brat, for a good reason, since he still wanted to fight the brat. Hibari wasn't stupid to think that if he'd beat up Gokudera or Lyn that the brat would come and fight him, no no. So why not letting out his frustration on someone they all seem to hate? Productive, effective, and totally not a thought that passed through his mind.

"I will bite you to death."

"Hi-Hibari-san!" Tsuna squeaked once Hibari sent a raging hit on the brunet without waiting. The man, though, backfired his own, and they clashed in the middle of the room.

"Get out of my way, herbivores!" Hibari hissed, gritting his teeth. Vongola Bracelet of the Cloud version X shined on his wrist and a smirk appeared on his face. "This herbivore," he gestured at brunet, "is mine."

"Hm… enjoy then, Hibari… as long as he gets badly beat up or even dies, I'm good enough with it," Gokudera commented.

"Don't think I'm doing this for your sake, foolish herbivore," Hibari retorted, preparing his tonfa and letting the sharp parts show. "I just merely had enough of your little crowding show."

"Okay, that's it. I think we'd be better if we run," Lyn said in cracked voice.

"Y-yeah. I totally agree with Lyn on this," Tsuna added unsurely. Whoever that guy was, he was giving him a merely bad and unpleasant feeling. And fighting against Hibari… that didn't sound good. He stood up on his feet, trembling a little, and followed by Yamamoto and Gokudera, approached to Lyn.

"Come on," Yamamoto grinned, throwing Lyn's hand over his shoulder.

Gokudera and Tsuna continued going in front of them, while Yamamoto and Lyn followed, until Lyn didn't step on Yamamoto's foot, signing him to stop.

"EH? Lyn, what-?"

"Look," Lyn simply said, pointing at something in front of herself. Yamamoto blinked, his face turning serious.

"T-Tsuna…" he whispered.

Gokudera and Tsuna turned around to face them. "Oi, why the hell are you standing there like rocks?" Gokudera growled. That didn't remove pale faces that Yamamoto and Lyn had.

"Tsuna… your back…" Lyn muttered.

"What's wrong with my back?" Tsuna blinked. He found it a little uncomfortable when Gokudera started looking too.

"Jyuudaime… what?"

"Eh? What's wrong with my back, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asked. For the first time he came to think of it, there was something on his back. It was like his shirt was agglutinated to his back or something, and it was giving him an itchy feeling.

"Nothing, never mind," Lyn quickly said, replacing her pale face with a fake smile. "Let's just continue. Like Takeshi-san said, talk comes later!"

Tsuna though, did not fall for that. Pale faces on Gokudera and Yamamoto were enough to make him snap out of it quickly. "Just tell me…" he said, lowering his head a little. "I'm aware that there's something wrong… so what's the point in hiding it?"

"Tsuna…" Yamamoto's voice was weak. "It's just that… your back…" he struggled to put it somehow… anyhow,,, and not make it too drastic. "They're… sodden… in blood."

Tsuna's mouth formed a large 'but', yet there was no voice coming out of it. Faces on Gokudera and Lyn, and his own intuition, did convince him that what Yamamoto said was true. _Too true…_ After all, he was sure that it was blood dripping down his back when he moved in attempt to break himself free earlier.

* * *

><p>"Verde, do you have any <em>idea<em> of how _risky _this is? If we just try to forcefully bring them from the past, it'll completely destroy the balance and possibly the whole world," Fon seriously said in his earplug-phone thingy… or whatever it was. He just new that he was supposed to talk in it.

"_Of course I know how risky it is." _Came the reply. _"But since that is the only thing we have, we could possibly rely on it."_

"_Possibly doesn't sound good, kora! There will be consequences, kora!"_ Colonello retorted.

Fon just shook his head. _I'm starting to hate these little ear bugs… or however Verde called them. There's too many of us trying to talk at the same time…_

"_Well, Colonello, if you have any better ideas, I'd advise you to come forth,"_ Verde answered back sarcastically.

Silence.

"Then, I guess we can try it out. I believe we can always stop before something too great happens," Fon simply said. Luckily, his idea got some far better receiving thoughts from Colonello.

"_Are we sure that this act will return Decimo and his guardians?"_ Aria asked worriedly. She could no longer remember of the name of the Vongola Decimo.

There was long silence, followed by nervous whistling, before the answer had come.

"_The time will tell."_

That, though, wasn't exactly helping anyone relax. Especially Fon.

"Oh well, then," Storm Arcobaleno started, "What do you say? Shall we begin?" With affirmative response, he let the light of his pacifier be shown.

* * *

><p>"Oi, what… just happened?" Lampo blinked, looking around himself. Last thing he remembered was that he was trying to taunt away that annoying cow-brat, and then suddenly, his energy was suddenly drained from him and his Vongola ring was at fault. Without Lampo doing anything at all.<p>

"EHH?"

On the other side, one more thing confusing Lampo was that the same cow-brat was now lying right next to him, asleep, on which Lampo shook his head in disgust right away.

"Stupid cow-brat… sleeping and snoozing and drooling all over the place. I _hate_ brats. Children are brats. Therefore, I hate children."

"Now now," a strange voice said, making Lampo freeze. "So do I."

* * *

><p>Back in Vongola mansion, Asari was worriedly rushing through the entire mansion, getting already exhausted, but not giving up. No matter where he checked, or how… <em>Where are you, Lampo? Lambo?<em>

It felt wrong because he knew that the two were around there _somewhere_, but a simple question 'where', could not get its answer.

"Eh, Knuckle!" Asari called, running onto his colleague. "How is G?"

Knuckle wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned at Asari. "He'll be fine within a day or two. I'll might as well forbid him cigars if he wants to stay alive any longer."

"EHH?" Asari stared at Knuckle, huge question mark playing in his head. _Was that just Knuckle… trying to cheer up the mood?_ Well obviously, Knuckle hadn't done it very well.

"Well, he would've passed much better if he didn't smoke a stack for a week," Knuckle explained. "Anyways, if he decides to get better now, he'll have to back off from cigars in a while."

"Oh, I see…" Asari smiled. "By the way, Knuckle… have you seen Lampo and Lambo anywhere? I've been looking all over for them for the last hour, and there's no sign of them. It's like they're even not in the mansion."

"Have you tried the garden?"

"Err… no… I guess it would be better to do so," Asari knitted his brows, nor very sure about that, but deciding to give it a chance. Though, in garden, he only ran onto Ryohei who was sparring with Garyuu. He seemed to be quite frustrated because he failed to taunt Giotto to take him back to Capelli mansion, or so Asari thought.

"Hello, Ryohei!" Asari called, his voice still having that weak dose of worry in it.

"Oh, HEY, ASARI!" Ryohei roared. "What are you doing to the extreme!"

"I was just looking for Lampo and Lambo, have you seen them anywhere?" Asari asked. He blinked in confusion, seeing the puzzled look that Ryohei had. It was ironic how Garyuu also made an expression like that.

Ryohei scratched his forehead. "Eh? Who're they?"

"E-excuse me?"

"Who are Lampo and Lam-something, to the extreme?"

Asari sent a concerned look at Ryohei. _Something… feels wrong. _His brows furrowed. _No, something definitely is wrong. Did he just ask me who Lampo and Lambo are?_

* * *

><p>"Nufufufu! <em>You<em> are stupid if you think that I'll fall for such a lie!" Daemon sneered mockingly. "This cannot be Vongola mansion! There is no possible way for Vongola mansion to be destroyed, you ignorant fool!" he chuckled at Mukuro, whose body stiffened and face turned a bit too serious.

"Well," Mukuro broke the awkward silence created after Daemon's sentence, staring down at the paper in his hand. "It is definitely not the Vongola mansion that you know of."

"And how about you explain that, Rokudo Mukuro," Daemon hissed, getting annoyed with all the suspense of not knowing where he was. How could he even be transported from Capelli mansion to Vongola mansion anyway? Not that he actually believed that the place was Vongola mansion…

Mukuro noticed Daemon's tension, and couldn't resist chuckling, though he felt that the situation wasn't funny at all. "Well, Daemon Spade… this _is_ the Vongola mansion," he said in firm voice, taking a deep breath and checking the paper once again, knitting his eyebrows for a moment. "It is Vongola mansion in our time."

Last sentence was mostly meant for Chrome.

Daemon pinched his eyebrows. There was no possible way that Vongola mansion in the future was in _such _condition. There was no possible way! And besides, he didn't even believe that the damn teenagers copying his hairstyle were even from the future.

Chrome, though, was sure that Mukuro wasn't just joking around in order to upset Daemon. She gasped in horror. "I-is… that a joke… M-Mukuro-sama…?"

On the surprise of all three, another voice than Mukuro's responded.

"I'm afraid not."

Three heads instantly turned over to see who was the one to say it. Chrome let out a silent gasp, Daemon's eyebrows went half up to his forehead, and Mukuro smirked.

"Well, I do believe that this time, the Varia wasn't the cause for what had happened. Am I correct?" Mukuro asked in a mocking tune. After all, the Arcobaleno standing in front of him sure pissed him off a big time earlier, in the ring battles, but this now… was a whole other situation.

"What you believe is mostly right, Rokudo Mukuro," Mammon replied, his head turning over to Daemon. "Welcome to Vongola mansion… Daemon Spade," he added in bitter voice. _Am I glad that the plan worked… but…_

"_Eh?" Colonello let out a hurried exhale. "A-are you kidding me, kora? Since Vongola rings are now Vongola gear, things won't exactly proceed smoothly! Mare rings have been sealed and the original Vongola rings are gone, Verde! Your idea is senseless, kora!"_

"_But I do think we should give it a shot, Colonello," Aria's voice came. "I do believe that it should work."_

"_It should not work," Verde blurted out. "It IS going to work. Now get your asses to business. No one said we have unlimited amount of time."_

"_For once, I agree with you, Verde," Mammon added bitterly._

"_Well, Verde, if that plan by any case fails," Reborn stated in serious voice. "Forget that I'll ever let you put a finger on Leon. Ever."_

_There seemed to be some rustle, before Verde cleared his throat. "Using the force of TriNiSette, the Vongola gear will be dragged back to this time, along with its user and anyone else in touch with that user. Since Mare rings currently have no wielder, they won't represent a problem. So, shall we begin?"_

_Colonello started objecting about something, but it was soon agreed that the attempt will start. Mammon concentrated on his own pacifier that started shining in indigo light fiercely. He was doing his best to concentrate on the two Mist flame users of Vongola Decimo's family. He had the easiest job of all, though, considering it'll be the Mist flame's users' energy that will be taken. And spreading on both, it should work with no problems. Though, something felt wrong. Even if his energy was supposed to be wasted too, it wasn't happening._

Mammon kept his head pointed towards the first generation Vongola's Mist guardian. "The plan, successfully worked from my part. Though, there seemed to be some… rather confusing consequences," he muttered in his earplug.

"_Such as?" _Verde's excited voice reached him.

"We seem to be having an unexpected guest," Mammon said. "Daemon Spade has honored us with his presence once again in this time."

That earned confusing and hateful looks of Daemon, pointed at the small baby. _Wait… is that… no, that is a pacifier? So… is that really… an Arcobaleno?_

Everything felt totally wrong in Chrome's point of view.

* * *

><p><strong>YAY! Done! Story is slowly approaching to the end, guys, so thanks for sticking with me for so long! I hope that this chapter is better than the last one, and OH COME ON, has anyone missed Mukuro, huh? -wink wink- I sure did.<strong>

**Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter and leave a review~ **


	17. Several directions

The long A/N: I am back and actively working on this story. Hell. I can't believe it's been over a year. I'm so sorry. Don't worry, though. I'm back and the next chapter will take hopefully much less to finish than this one.

I haven't been lazy, though. The first five chapters have been edited, though I've focused mostly on grammar and sentence structure. This chapter is going to be a bit choppy, but the purpose of it is to show what happened to mostly everyone. Sorry for taking so long. I got stuck after the third section before I got inspired again and started working on the story. I apologize if there are some inconsistencies, I had to read through the whole story to finish the chapter and it took me quite some time, not to mention that it all got messed up a bit later. Anyways, I'll read through again if anything had came up that I hadn't noticed before. The rest of the chapters are probably going to be edited as well, soon enough.

Not to drag this on for much longer, there you go!

* * *

><p>"Tsuna, calm down, it's okay. Nothing to worry about," Lyn said softly, trying to make Tsuna feel easier but it didn't seem to work. Tsuna's hands were still trembling and he was very pale. Knowledge of what he had on himself disgusted him and frightened him so much that he couldn't even calm down. A small part of him wondered if a scar was going to remain, but Tsuna shoved the question away quickly.<p>

"Jyuudaime, whoever did that to you, I'll make sure for them to see the depths of hell!" Gokudera growled, tightly gripping dynamite in his hands. Tsuna tried to say something in order to calm Gokudera, but no actual words were coming out. He was still too shell-shocked to say anything.

"Gokudera," Yamamoto called for his colleague but it was useless. He was sure that Gokudera was saying the wrong things. Lyn too. If those words were to be any helpful, Tsuna would've stopped trembling. Maybe if he'd crack a joke or something. That could fix things, right? But his mind was blank. No joke had been in his mind ever since he had seen all that blood on Tsuna's shirt. It was a miracle that Tsuna was still alive. Either way, he figured that Tsuna knew exactly what he was thinking.

"I-I'm alright you guys, really, I'm fine." Tsuna's voice sounded shaken and it was barely hearable. "I… It doesn't hurt me. It's just that… I don't like… not knowing what happened." Well, better said, I'd like to know what happened so that I could pass out, but Tsuna decided that it was better to keep that inside.

No one answered him either way.

"It's all right, Tsuna," Lyn broke the silence a few minutes later. "I know how it feels and… it's all right. It won't happen again. Hayato-san and Takeshi-san won't let it happen again and neither will I." She smiled truthfully at Tsuna and then sent warning looks at Gokudera and Yamamoto, which actually intimidated no one.

"Haha, yeah! I agree with Lyn, Tsuna!" Yamamoto laughed, seeing no other way out of the situation.

"Che… Of course I won't let anything else like this ever happen to Jyuudaime!" Gokudera snorted. That brought a small smile on Tsuna's face.

"Thank you, everyone," he replied. "Let's not waste the time Hibari-san had given us."

* * *

><p>"I don't like where this is going," Giotto said seriously, his face darkening. He and Alaude were standing in front of the main entrance in Capelli mansion and the doors were broken down, apparently from the outside and there were no guards around. Also, there was some strange force surrounding the mansion which only made Giotto worried. Something really strange was going on inside and there was no way he could tell what.<p>

"Hn."

Giotto just shook his head hopelessly. It was normal for Alaude not to state his opinion when Giotto needed it. Despise that, they slowly walked past the destroyed door, entering inside. All they could see was that there had been some harsh fights going on before they had arrived.

"I think we better split up," Giotto said under the pressure of his intuition. The mansion was too big for the two of them to look through, especially when together. Although, Giotto had a strange feeling that it wasn't exactly the brightest idea to follow through.

"That's the best thing you've said for a while," Alaude commented. Giotto didn't respond. And why would he? It's not like he had anything to say to that.

Alaude headed towards the dungeons instantly, while Giotto went to check over through the second and the last floor. Except for Paolo's guardians being beaten on the ground, there wasn't anyone else in sight. Giotto frowned. What exactly happened in Capelli mansion? Because the information he got from Ryohei and Ricardo weren't telling even half the story.

From the second floor, he skipped to the last one, first checking over the larger rooms there. Besides being half in ruins, the place was empty. Too empty.

At the same time, Alaude was searching over the dungeons, finding almost nothing, other than a few smaller pools of blood. Everything was becoming way too complicated for his liking. He usually liked simplicity more.

* * *

><p>"Urgh…" Tsuna collapsed on his knees, no strength in him to stand anymore. Gokudera and Yamamoto ran over to him, helping him to stand up.<p>

"Tsuna…"  
>"Jyuudaime…"<p>

They looked at him worriedly, but shake of Tsuna's head made it harder. He was trying to stand up on his own and all they could do was try to help. But Tsuna obviously didn't wish for their help. They could tell from the way he snatched his arm away from them and sent them an apologetic look.

"I'm… fine…" Tsuna muttered in weak voice. "I really am guys. We're on the edge of running away from this place… I won't be the one to slow us down."

"Tsuna, you're not fine," Yamamoto was the first to speak. "You're everything but fine."

"Does great and perfect count in as well?" Tsuna asked in weak voice, with a small smile playing over his face.

"NO!" Gokudera and Yamamoto shouted at the same time.

"Yes."

Three heads jerked towards Lyn who was grinning at them. She was giving them an apologetic look, but said nothing more.

"Yeah," Tsuna added quickly. "I agree… with Lyn." His knees lapsed again, earning now three worried looks of three different people. "I'm fine," Tsuna repeated, but that didn't stop Gokudera from helping him to stand up again.

A gun fired. Lyn screamed. Yamamoto gasped. Tsuna shuddered. Gokudera countered the second gunshot with his dynamite and in the midway, pushed Tsuna and the others aside.

Across the hallway, Paolo stood with a gun in his hand and a manic, bloodthirsty grin across his face.

Gokudera hissed. "Damn… I should've finished it when I had the chance. Is Jyuudaime all right, Baseball-freak?"

"Uh-uh…"

"H-Hayato-san… Takeshi-san, he…" Lyn stuttered and never finished.

Gokudera turned, only to see that the first shot had actually hit Yamamoto in the stomach. The ever-cheerful teen was now doing his best to remain standing, leaning on Lyn for support. Lyn, for her part, looked as horrified as Tsuna did.

"Y-Y-Yamamoto," Tsuna stuttered.

"I'm…"

"Get out of here, Jyuudaime! Take the baseball-freak and get out now!" Gokudera exclaimed, standing protectively in front of them, his anger building up.

"But Gokudera-kun—"

"Tsuna, come on," said Lyn sharply. "We have to help Takeshi-san. Hayato-san can do this."

"Of course I can do this, you idiot!" Gokudera snapped.

"Right," said Lyn with a nod and a tiny smile crossed her face.

"Be careful, Gokudera-kun," said Tsuna.

"Of course, Jyuudaime!"

Grabbing Tsuna by the elbow and helping Yamamoto, Lyn focused hard. The Mist flame enveloped them, hiding them from both Gokudera and Paolo's sight. Breathing hard, Lyn whispered, "They can't see us now. Let's go." Slowly, very slowly, they moved to exit the corridor.

Focusing back on his enemy, Gokudera scowled. Paolo Capelli stood before him, completely unconcerned with the fact that the three disappeared from his sight. Twirling his gun around his finger, he said, "You goddamn Vongola, thinking you can defeat me in my _own_ house! I'll take my revenge for that… and then I'll get Giotto to watch as I kill each and every one of you – then take his precious family away."

Gokudera hadn't listened to all the things the man said. It didn't matter. Paolo was obviously in a much better condition than Gokudera, but it was also clear that Gokudera had much more power despite being worse off now. Also, Gokudera knew that using his Vongola Gear right now would only cause more trouble than settle anything – not that he had the strength to do so anyway.

_Take care, Jyuudaime,_ he thought, taking out his dynamites. _That stupid brat would be better to get you out of here. And as for this one, leave him to me. I'll take care of him._

* * *

><p>Blocking a strong kick with his tonfa, Hibari failed to completely react in time. He slid backwards from the force and once he stopped, he instantly moved away to dodge another one coming. Smirking, he sank low under brunet's outstretched fist before grabbing it with one hand and slamming the tonfa in his face with another. Cracking sound could be heard as the metal collided with the man's nose, effectively breaking it.<p>

Brunet tried to get out of Hibari's range, but as the prefect was still holding his arm, it was a futile attempt. However, he felt the grip on his arm slip and, about to use the chance to move, he failed to register the tonfa that collided with his stomach with a dull sound, sending him flying several feet in the air, then straight at the wall.

Gasping for breath, brunet looked up at the teen before him. So far, there was only one scratch on him and it was on his cheek when brunet succeeded in breaking through his guard. He sacrificed much of his left wrist for that, for the said wrist was now broken, but at least he had gotten to injure the kid – and thoroughly enjoy it.

This fight, it seemed, was going to be interesting. He shouldn't have underestimated him.

"What is your name, boy?" he asked in Italian, wiping the blood from his nose with his sleeve.

Hibari halted his next attack, raising an eyebrow. "If you expect me to understand you, then speak in a language I can understand."

Brunet shook his head hopelessly. "Should've known…" After a small pause, he said, "Carlos Evangelleon." Hopefully, kid had enough brains to understand that.

Hibari, for his part, only smirked. "Hibari Kyoya."

Carlo smirked back. Maybe not all of it was a waste of time, he realized, then moved to attack. He loved fighting… and this, he believed, was going to be one very interesting fight.

* * *

><p>Genkishi opened his eyes to the room he was previously in. The six Hell rings were gone from his fingers, but that's all what he was aiming for. Reborn may have thought he had taken them, but Genkishi was smarter than that. If only he knew how exactly had the baby knocked him out, things would have been so much better. Yet, he did not, so he decided on rather exiting the room – only to realize he was pinned to the ground.<p>

He couldn't see much from his position, but what he could see was that it was an object holding him down – not a person, as he had first hoped. Briefly, he wondered how much time had passed. He knew his primary plan had failed the moment Reborn entered the room, but that no longer mattered. He still had the rings. Decimo and his guardians were still stuck in the past and Nono and his guardians… well, he'd forgot asking Glo Xinia about it. Not that it mattered. It was the Tenth generation that could cause trouble – they had the Vongola rings, after all.

Now, if only Genkishi could set himself free – it would have been much, much better.

With a scowl, he realized he'd have to focus on the backup plan. Shutting his eyes tightly, he focused on his two vessels to see if the connection still existed.

Ah, it was there, he could sense it, though his connection to the girl was significantly weaker than when he first established it – and even then it was almost too weak for him to work with it. No matter. At that time he only held three of the Hell rings. He had them all now.

Several hundred years away into the past, two people simultaneously blinked, wondering what the odd feeling running through their bodies was.

* * *

><p>"Now, now," a strange voice said, causing Lampo to freeze, "So do I."<p>

Lampo turned, only to face a baby dressed in something looking much like scientist's white coat with green hair in similar shade to his. Cow-brat was still asleep and Lampo could only wonder what in the world was going on, before the baby spoke again.

"Oh well, I guess not everything could go perfectly according to plan."

He sounded disappointed, if Lampo were to judge. "Err… what?"

"Never mind, never mind. At least it was successful," the baby said. "By the way, my name is Verde and I am the Lightning Arcobaleno. Welcome to the future Lampo, Vongola's first Lightning guardian."

Lampo didn't pay attention much after that. He only fainted.

Shaking his head in disappointment, Verde spoke into his ear-communicator. "Both Lightening Guardians have arrived safely. I am going to investigate on why they are both here, but for now, all we can do is wait for the rest of them to appear."

"_Point taken, kora!" _replied Colonello. _"Had anyone else had their element's guardian return yet aside from Mammon, kora?"_

"_Not yet,"_ answered Fon. _"Verde, do you know how much time we may have to wait?"_

"Well, judging by my current analysis, in order for Vongola Decimo's guardians to return to the present, they first must meet with the Primo's guardians. I am not yet sure why," informed Verde. "Can anyone get in touch with Viper?"

"_Negative,"_ replied Lal. _"Apparently, ever since the Mist guardians returned with Daemon Spade as an addition, he'd been conveniently disconnected. I cannot trace his location yet."_

"Never mind, then," sighed Verde. "I'm working on this. Has anyone heard from Reborn? I noticed he hadn't even started yet."

"_I'll start when I want to, Verde," _the Sun Arcobaleno stated.

"You better do so soon. We might lose a chance to get them all back if you're playing tag," Verde notified.

"_I will."_

Verde shook his head as the Sun Arcobaleno disconnected completely. "What is he doing, anyway?"

"_Looking for Nono,"_ the reply, surprisingly, came from Aria.

Verde just sighed. "No surprise, then."

* * *

><p>"Oh, you're here," said Knuckle, noticing Ricardo sprawled on the only armchair in the medical room. The teen was quiet, with his dark eyes observing G without moving even a muscle. The only thing he did to acknowledge Knuckle's arrival was narrow his eyes further, then say,<p>

"It's my fault."

"Don't beat yourself about it too much," said Knuckle, taking a seat at the available bed next to G's.

"If you're going to say that he let his guard down and that it was his—"

"No, I never intended on saying that it was his fault," said Knuckle shortly, cutting the boy off. "What I intended to say is that G will recover completely in due time. I've done all I could, now it is up to him to wake up. Knowing G, however, I'd be surprised if he weren't up within next two hours."

The boy narrowed his eyes at Knuckle, but then his face softened. "I guess…"

"How about you make that next five seconds?" a hoarse voice said, surprising both of the awake and uninjured residents of the room. G coughed a little and then took a deep breath.

Ricardo, for his part, squeaked and jumped up on his feet and sat at G's bed. "You're awake!"

"Yeah, yeah… Like I could stay asleep from a scratch like that," muttered G, eyeing Ricardo's grin skeptically.

"Watch it there, G! An hour ago that was much more than just a scratch," Knuckle pointed out, though the cheerfulness of his voice killed the seriousness of the situation.

"Oh, never mind," dismissed G and attempted to get up when both of his friends pushed him back down. "O-OI!" he protested. "Let me up, you two!"

"Nope," replied Knuckle. "You can't get up for at least another two hours. I won't let you before that time runs out."

"B-but—" G tried to protest, but Ricardo interjected.

"Really, do you want to make Uncle Giotto even more upset?"

G subsided at that, though the slight frown never disappeared from his face. In the back of his mind, he wondered what happened from the time he had been knocked out. It was already late afternoon. The Tenth generation and Daemon should have already returned, though, judging by the way Knuckle would turn towards the window every other second, G was certain that the group – in fact – did not yet come back.

That just brought the importance of the question to the front of G's mind. Just what in the world happened?

* * *

><p>"Do you think we are safe here, Lyn?" asked Tsuna, helping her to lay Yamamoto on the ground softly. He noticed the sweat rolling down from her forehead, but chose not to comment on it. Apparently, she was trying hard to hold the illusion around them. What he didn't know was that she was slipping and if anyone were to pass by them with intent to see them, they'd see them.<p>

"I don't know," Lyn admitted. "If Kyoya-san is fighting the odd freak that tried to torture us and Hayato-san is fighting the one that he already fought before… it means that the woman from before is still out there somewhere, but I'm pretty sure she was knocked out. Not that she can't wake up any moment now… And… well, Kyoya-san fought and defeated the guards… there's still a chance that there are more people here, though."

Tsuna agreed, immediately remembering Mateo.

"Oh, and Gokudera-kun defeated one other guy when I first ran onto him. I think he just knocked him out, but I'm not sure," added Lyn.

Tsuna nodded again and then shuddered. He still couldn't feel the pain of his wounds and he still couldn't remember anything that happened after he stopped Hibari. Sure, at times he'd have some flashes, but none of it was clear enough for him to know what exactly had happened. And he still couldn't understand why none of the wounds hurt.

"We have to help Yamamoto," he said, looking down at his friendly guardian. Yamamoto had long since slipped into unconsciousness. The only thing that prevented him from losing too much blood was Lyn's quick thinking when she advised Tsuna to bandage the wound tightly. Tsuna was glad that she could keep her head cool in a situation like that – especially when he couldn't.

"I know," replied Lyn. "I don't know what we can do, though. We can't carry him, we already established that. We can't heal his wound either. And… I need some rest. I can't keep up the illusion for much longer and there's a chance anyone can come by from behind the corner."

Tsuna agreed. _Maybe…_ he tried reaching for his Hyper Dying Will pills, but with a sinking feeling, he realized that he didn't have them with him any longer. There were several only remaining the last time he had taken them to fend off Hibari from Daemon, but he didn't know – he didn't remember where the pills disappeared after that. For some reason, he had more holes in his memory than he should.

Turning towards Lyn, he gulped. "What do you guys in CEDEF… what do you usually do in situations like these?"

"Follow the protocol," Lyn grumbled. Seeing that Tsuna had no idea what she was talking about, she elaborated. "Finish the mission ASAP and disappear from the said location without leaving traces behind. Or if it's already that bad, just try to finish the mission."

"Even if you were to… die?" mumbled Tsuna.

"Yeah…" she affirmed, then abruptly changed the subject. "Don't worry, though. My mission is to help you in anyway I possibly can. And for a mission like that, not many can fail." She smiled, but it looked more like a grimace and they both knew it.

"Lyn…" he started, but the girl suddenly stiffened and her eyelids closed. The flow of the Mist flames stopped and Tsuna realized that the illusion around them was gone. Next second, her eyes opened and Lyn blinked several times, before falling down to her knees.

"LYN!"

"Damn it!" she gasped from the floor, breathing hard. The tingling sensation didn't stop and the pain of every single wound intensified. "I've overdone it," she explained to the startled Tsuna. "I don't think I can play with illusions any longer."

"It's okay, Lyn," Tsuna quickly said. "Let's just try and think of something to get out of here."

The blonde nodded, gulping in large quantities of air.

"Each person who has the ability to use flames also has one weakness. They either cannot be used without a catalyst, such as a Vongola ring, or it would be something that would hinder the person sooner or later. However, the weaknesses differ from one person to another. In your case, I'd say your biggest weakness is that most of your powers rely on your physical condition. Am I right?" a voice coming from behind the teens said, startling both of them.

Turning their heads in one slashing motion, Tsuna's and Lyn's eyes widened in surprise.

Lyn sagged and sat down on the floor, leaning her back against a wall.

Tsuna's shoulders slumped and he gasped in relief.

"Thank god," he muttered before falling down on his butt. "You really startled us, Alaude-san."

* * *

><p>Alaude's day hadn't been going particularly well. Going through the Capelli mansion for about fifteen minutes already, he could feel several battles going on. In the north, he could fell the extreme use of Cloud and Mist flames. On the northwest he could feel Storm and even a tiny tidbit of Rain flames going on and off. In far west someone was focusing a great deal of strength in Mist flames that weren't even a p of powerful.<p>

But that's where it ended. No one else was using any flames to fight and judging by the intensity, the stronger flames he could feel were already engaged in a battle. With a deep scowl, Alaude turned west.

Reaching the Mist flame user was most probably one of the easiest games of chase he had ever played, if one was to look at it that way. They weren't even trying to conceal their presence. However, when he arrived at the location that was most certainly the one he was looking for, he saw no one.

_I see, so the Illusion is supposed to keep them hidden away if anyone were to come._ Indeed, it had to be a strong illusion. To conceal one from the eye completely usually took a lot of power, especially if one knew what he was looking for and how to find it. However, the illusion was also supposed to hide away the fact that the flames in fact were being used; hence the one who was using it must have remained low on their power reserves.

Alaude hadn't even been there even for a whole minute when the illusionist tired herself out and the illusion disappeared, revealing three people in the corner of the corridor. Alaude recognized the girl who collapsed down on her knees even without the Japanese boy additionally shouting her name.

"Damn it! I've overdone it. I don't think I can play with illusions any longer," the girl said in a shaky voice.

With disappointment, Alaude noticed that none of them realized he was there. He approached further, observing the girl carefully.

For such a young one, her powers were well developed, Alaude saw. From what he sensed earlier, her biggest fault was that she couldn't force her flames under control if she was under severe physical strains. While most, with their state of mind able to focus on their powers were also able to use them, in her case, it was the opposite. Her flames were directly tied to her physical condition, so even if she had the Dying Will worth of admiration, she'd be able to do nothing with it if her physical condition sucked.

Alaude sighed, explaining the conclusion he and Giotto had come to ages ago. Calling the two brats startled would be an understatement of the year.

"You really startled us, Alaude-san," didn't even begin to cover it.

"Next time do pay attention to your surroundings a bit more, brats. Anyone could have sneaked up on you and you wouldn't have been able to even raise a finger in your defense," he stated.

Both smiled awkwardly.

"Understood, Alaude-san. Can you help us get Yamamoto out of here?" asked Tsuna.

Alaude narrowed his eyes only slightly at the two, before another voice cut it.

"It would have been wise if you had followed your own advice, Alaude."

The two teens gasped, both recognizing the figure coming from behind Alaude.

Alaude, for his part, didn't even blink. He always had the ability to sense if there was someone foolish enough to sneak up on him from behind – aside from Spade, but that was mostly because the illusionist chose to draw his attention to something else first. This one, unfortunately for him, stood no chance.

"My advice comes from my experience, Capelli," Alaude said coolly. "If you had ever bothered to read your men's reports, you would have known never to try this."

Mateo Capelli sneered. "I'm holding you at gunpoint, though. What are you going to do now, CEDEF founder?"

"I guess cutting your hand of doesn't sound like a bad idea," Alaude pointed out. In a flash of movement that not even Tsuna or Lyn could see clearly, Alaude had one of his handcuffs around Mateo's wrist, tightened around with enough force to get the man to drop the gun.

"You don't have to go anywhere," Alaude said to the two who had moved towards Yamamoto. "It'll be over in a second."

* * *

><p>"OI! Baka Xanxus! Where are you extremely going?" Ryohei yelled at the top of his voice as he noticed the dark-haired teen walking towards one of the doors. The Vongola Decimo's Sun guardian, for his part, was extremely lost and running even on Baka Xanxus who seemed to know where to go was better than nothing.<p>

Ricardo, on the other hand, felt gravely irritated. "My name is Ricardo!" he snapped at Ryohei, gratefully that Asari had taught him at least that much of Japanese for the past two years.

"Extremely odd name," Ryohei replied.

Ricardo rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

"Oh, I was just looking for either Knuckle or Asari! Wanna tell them that I'm off to go and look for Sawada!" replied Ryohei with a shrug.

"They're—" but Ricardo cut off, realizing something. They maybe would have let Ryohei go, but they'd never let him. With a smug look on his face, he said, "I already told them I'm going. Coming with me?"

"Sure! Why extremely not?" Ryohei roared.

Ricardo covered his ears, on the inside praying that no one heard him yelling. However, with a smirk, he grabbed Ryohei by the elbow, quickly dragging him away before anyone came down. At least he knew how to get away without being spotted.

In the meantime, in another part of the mansion, Asari raised an eyebrow. "Did you hear anything, Knuckle?" he asked.

The first generation Sun guardian shook his head. "Nope. Have you checked on G, though? I wouldn't be surprised if he were to sneak away from his bed and go look for Giotto."

"The last time I visited, he was asleep, chained to the bed after his fifth attempt to escape," replied Asari nonchalantly, though then his face expression turned a bit worried. "You still think he's just pretending to be asleep so that he could trick us to take Alaude's handcuffs off of him?"

Knuckle sighed, finally putting away his report on G's condition and the bills that will have to be paid for the crystal vase that was broken earlier. "I'd be worried if he wasn't," he replied honestly.

Asari nodded in agreement. "Who are we kidding? We should have just knocked him out. Giotto did order us to make sure that G recovered safely."

"Nah," Knuckle dismissed. "That'd be just another injury to heal. At least this way he's smart enough not to try and cut through his own wrists."

In yet third part of the mansion, G was pretending to be asleep, while deep in his mind he was working carefully on his most important plan of revenge. Asari and Knuckle were going to suffer, as soon as he got out of the bed and punched Giotto in the face. They were going to wish that they had never listened to their idiot boss.

One tiny part of his mind noted that even Daemon would have been proud of him if he were to know what exactly G had in plan.

* * *

><p>Giotto sneezed as he finished inspecting the last floor. So far, the only people he had come across of were Paolo's guards and – frankly, they were all beaten up – Giotto as sure as hell wasn't going to send anyone in to heal them.<p>

Not that he had anyone available, he realized with a start. He left both Ryohei and Knuckle to help G and it didn't even occur to him that someone else here may be injured. With a sigh, he shook the thought away. He'd just have to get them to the Vongola mansion quickly. No more, no less.

_Sometimes,_ he mused as he moved back towards the second floor,_ trying to be objective just sucks._

The second floor he had already snooped through, but now he was going to look through it a bit better. Again, aside from the guards that were most probably knocked out by Hibari, there was no one else awake or knocked out on the floor. Giotto sighed as he realized what his intuition had implied right before he had separated from Alaude. If anything interesting was happening, it was happening downstairs.

With another sad and upset sigh, Giotto moved to close the door of the last room he had inspected, but then paused. There was a hole in the wall. Blinking, he walked inside, knowing he was going to find something there. He passed through the hall, walking towards another room with the broken wall. There were droplets of blood on the floor, but nothing grave.

Giotto followed the trail towards a staircase leading down. The blood trail continued for the first two stairs, only to give him a hint to where the injured person had left, so Giotto followed down. Soon enough, he was in a labyrinth-like corridor, but here, he could feel that several fights were in progress. Hoping deep inside that no one was injured badly, he ran through, right towards the place from where he could hear the loud noise and – conveniently – it was the closest.

* * *

><p>"So, Mammon-san," Chrome begun in an awkward attempt to lead a conversation while the four walked down the destroyed corridor of Vongola residence, "what happened to Vongola mansion?"<p>

Mammon sighed. "Glo Xinia turned the head of the Todd family and had his man attack at full force." His eyes narrowed at the reaction he had gotten from the two. Dokuro Chrome's eyes widened and Rokudo Mukuro's narrowed. Daemon Spade had no visible reaction, but it is not as if Mammon was expecting him to have one. He had no idea what it was about.

"Oh, so has that yet been taken care of?" asked Mukuro finally, albeit attempting to act nonchalant of the matter.

"He was captured by Reborn," replied Mammon shortly. "For any other information I give out, I expect payment."

No one yet commented on that.

Mammon took his time to observe the two Mist guardians. While his memories of them slowly begun returning the moment they had returned to the present, it was still a bit hazy and confusing at most. Memories on Daemon Spade and his attempt to take the control over Vongola recently, however, had not.

Mammon now remembered quite enough about it – or at least the Mist and Lightning guardians involvement in it. As for the other guardians, he had no clue yet, but according to Verde, the moment they return to the present, he was going to begin remembering. Until then, he had to settle with knowing nothing.

_Still,_ Mammon wondered, _how come that Daemon Spade had also come?_

He had asked Verde about it, of course, but not even the tiny scientist could answer that question. For some reason, things were becoming excruciatingly frustrating. Mammon was just satisfied that his part in this mess was finally over. All that remained was leading the three Mist guardians into the agreed location and he could go rest on Maldives for a year with all the money he had earned.


End file.
